UC-NRLF 


O)/  -      *      S 

wnt'tsewfofa/ s^r 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE 

A  series  of  letters 
contributed  to  the 
OWSGO  TIMES 

during  a  year  of  travel 
in  Europe,  July  1900  to 
July  1901,  by 

GEORGE  MATTHEW  BUTCHER 

H 

President  V/hite  Fellow 
in  History,  Cornell 
Universi  ty 


OWEGO,  NEW  YORK 
1900-1901 


IRY  MORSE  STEP 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST  30,  1900. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


GEORGE    M.    DUTCHER,    OF    OWEGO, 
WRITES  AN  INTERESTING  LETTER. 


He  Gives  an  Interesting  Account  of  Hi* 
Passage  Across  the  Ocean,  Together 
With  a  Description  of  Cherbourg  and 
the  Trip  to  Paris. 

COLOGNE,  Angnet  4,  1900. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

It  w'as  on  the  hot  and  sultry  evening 
of  the  6th  of  July,  at  eleven  o'clock, 
that  tne  Lackawanna  train  took  as  a 
passenger  a  yonng  man  who  had  seen 
but  little  of  the  world  ontside  of  Owego 
and  Ithaca,  and  started  him  on  a  tonr 
which  in  less  than  a  month  was  to  take 
him  into  fonr  European  countries, 
Thanks  to  Cornell  University  for  award- 
ing me  the  President  White  Fellowship 
in  History,  which  carries  with  it  the 
privilege  of  travel  and  stndy  in  Enrope. 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  that  young 
man. 

The  preceding  weeks  had  been  busy 
ones.  The  closing  up  of  seven  years  of 
study  and  work  in  the  University  meant 
the  doing  of  many  things  that  one  had 
intended  to  do  at  some  time  before  leav- 
ing the  University,  which  must  be  done 
then  if  ever.  Then  there  were  the 
good-bye's  to  be  said  to  the  friends  of 
the  past  seven  years,  and  last  of  all  there 
were  the  hundred  and  one  last  things 
that  one  always  finds  to  do.  When  I 
had  finally  left  Ithaca,  Owego  furnished 
no  relief,  for  then  there  came  all  the 
work  of  preparing  for  several  months 
of  travel.  The  fuss  and  worry  before 
the  last  necessary  thing  has  been  got 
together  and  packed  and  the  last  grip 
strapped  is  something  that  can  be  ap- 


predated  only  by  one  who  has  gone 
through  it.  Thus  there  was  a  certain 
feeling  of  relief  when  the  train  started 
and  I  knew  that  everything  that  could 
be  done  had  had  been  done.  As  for  an- 
ticipations, I  was  too  much  taken  up 
with  the  present  to  worry  about  them. 
In  Binghamton,  I  found  my  cousin, 
Dr.  Sboutenburg,  waiting  in  the  station 
to  speed  me  on  my  way.  After  Bing- 
hamton, I  indulged  in  somewhat  futile 
attempts  to  sleep,  but  the  futility  of 
my  efforts  became  so  evident  as  the 
train  climed  Mount  Pocono,  that  I  gave 
up  the  effort.  Here  the  dawn  was  just 
beginning  to  tinge  the  east  and  gradual- 
ly the  golden  glow  increased,  and  the 
outlines  of  the  mountains,  valleys, 
trees  and  towns  became  more  distinct. 
Then  came  the  glorious  sunrise,  with 
its  views  of  the  Delaware  Water  Gap. 
By  the  time  the  train  had  crossed  the 
Jersey  meadows  and  landed  me  at  Ho 
boken,  another  hot  summer  day  was  in 
full  sway.  In  the  station  at  Hoboken  I 
found  friends  who  were  to  sail  by  an- 
other boat,  but  they  were  able  to  pre- 
sent me  to  friends  of  theirs  who  were  to 
sail  on  the  same  steamer  as  I.  Thus  was 
the  first  steamer  acquaintance  made 
on  land.  My  first  care  was  to  go  to  the 
wharf  of  the  Hamburg-American  line 
from  which  my  steamer,  the  Phoenicia, 
was  to  sail,  and  to  see  that  all  my  bag 
gage  was  safely  disposed.  A  shipload  of 
immigrants  had  just  been  landed  and 
the  hubbub  and  confusion — especially 
the  confusion  of  tongues— was  bewilder- 
ing. By  dint  of  bothering  three  or  four 
German  employees,  I  succeeded  after  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  in  getting  all  my 
goods  properly  cared  for.  In  the  pro- 
cess, I  discovered  a  young  man  with  a 
hat  that  matched  my  own  madly  tumb- 
ling over  the  baggage  piece  by  piece.  A 
second  glance,  however, assured  me  that 
the  mad  energy  was  but  a  temporary 
outburst,  for  he  was  a  suave  graduate 
student  and  instructor  from  Cornell,  who 
was  to  be  my  fellow-traveler  to  the 
foreign  shore,  where  he  was  to  pursue 
the  study  of  medicine  at  Leipsic.  His 
luck,  however,  was  not  so  good  as  mine 
for  a  six  hours'  search  of  the  baggage- 


rooms  of  Hoboken  and  New  York  failed 
to  bring  to  light  the  suit  case  in  which 
he  had  bestowed  his  most  valued  word- 
ly  possessions;  a  losa  for  which  the  mon- 
ey compensation  paid  by  the  company, 
conld  give  little  satisfaction.  Later,  I 
discovered  at  the  same  process  of  hunt- 
ing for  baggage  my  other  fellow-travel- 
er. He,  too,  was  a  graduate  student  at 
Cornell  and  an  instructor;  and  he,  like 
myself,  had  good  fortune  with  his  bag- 
gage. This  friend  further  resembles  me 
in  the  taste  for  history  and  for  some 
time  our  lots  will  be  cast  together  in 
Europe,  but  ultimately  he  will  go  to 
Berlin  and  I  to  Paris  for  onr  settled 
work.  The  suburban  trains  and  the  fer- 
ries brought  in  some  friends  who  came 
to  bid  us  God  speed.  Exactly  at  12:30, 
my  friend  who  lost  his  baggage,  con- 
cluded his  search  and  crossed  the  gang- 
plank, and  five  minutes  later  we  were 
swinging  out  into  the  Hudson  river, 
amid  the  waving  of  handkerchiefs  and 
the  shouts  of  farewell. 

The  sight  of  two  disasters  greeted  onr 
eyes,  the  burning  tanks  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  at  Bayonne,and  the  ruined 
wharves  of  the  North  German  Lloyd 
Line,  which  adjoined  those  from  which 
we  sailed.  We  were  proud  of  the  Phoenicia 
and  her  officers  for  the  efficient  work  they 
had  done  the  previous  Saturday  in  saving 
and  caring  for  so  many  of  the  victims  of 
the  great  fire.  The  Phoenicia  is  primarily 
intended  for  carrying  freight,  but  has  also 
accommodations  for  a  large  number  of 
steerage  passengers,  and  about  150 
cabin  passengers.  The  ship  is  built  on 
such  lines  that  the  rolling  and  pitching 
motion  are  reduced  to  a  minimum,  thus 
insuring  as  smooth  a  voyage  as  possible. 
The  vessel  is  not  a  swift  one  by  any 
means  for,  since  she  averages  only  300 
knots  a  day,  she  requires  from  ten  to 
eleven  days  for  the  trip.  The  Pooenicia, 
however,  holds  one  record.  A  few  weeks 
ago  she  landed  in  New  York  nearly 
2,200  immigrants,  the  largest  number 
ever  landed  by  one  ship  at  one  time.  On 
our  trip  the  ship  carried  127  crew  and 
675  passengers.  More' than  two-thirds 
of  the  passengers  were  steerage,  of 
whom  the  larger  part  were  people  of 


foreign  birth  returning  to  their  home 
land  for  a  visit.  There  were  a  few  im- 
migrants who  had  not  been  allowed  to 
land,  and  were  boing  taken  back  to  En- 
rope.  These  inclnded  a  family  of  gyp- 
sies numbering  about  twenty  and  repre- 
senting three  generations,  forming 
a  never-failing  object  of  interest 
throughout  the  voyage.  The  cabin  pas- 
sengers were  of  three  classes — natural- 
ized citizens  of  the  more  prosperous  sort 
who  are  on  their  way  to  the  Fatherland, 
a  large  party  composed  chiefly  of  Alba- 
ny and  Brooklyn  people  in  charge  of  a 
tourist  company,  and  lastly  a  few  occa- 
sional travelers  like  ourselves 

As  soon  as  we  had  lost  sight  of  our 
friends  on  shore,  we  went  below  in 
search  of  the  dining  saloon,  only  to  be 
informed  that  we  must  wait  an  hour  or 
so.  Accordingly  we  next  searched  for 
the  purser,  who  being  a  kind-hearted 
fellow,  was  ready  to  serve  us.  We  in- 
vested our  small  change  in  souvenir  pos- 
tal cards  and  stamps  and  forthwith  bua- 
ied  ourselves  with  farewell  notes  to  our 
friends.  Another  visit  to  the  dining- 
saloon  was  better  rewarded.  At  onr 
table  we  found  agreeable  people  with 
whom  we  were  not  long  in  striking  up 
an  acquaintance  Opposite  us  was  a 
young  lady  who  promptly  settled  to  her 
own  satisfaction,  who  we  three  were. 
Her  peculiar  ideas  she  later  confided  to 
us.  The  suave  young  medical  student 
was  a  clergyman  in  charge  of  two  boys 
on  a  trip  to  Europe,  the  two  boys  being 
my  historical  friend  and  myself.  Oddly 
enough  we  two  had  always  considered 
ourselves  as  properly  sedate,  and  looked 
upon  our  friend  as  frivolous  rather  than 
clerical.  After  dinner  we  got  on  desk 
just  in  time  to  see  the  pilot  leave  the 
ship  with  our  letters.  It  was  to  be  ten 
days  and  a  half  before  we  should  have 
any  communication  with  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

Oar  voyage  was  a  quiet,  uneventful 
one.  Occasionally  we  passed  within 
sight  of  another  vessel;  occasionally  we 
would  pass  through  a  shoal  of  fish,  and 
frequently  birds  were  in  sight,  some- 
times in  large  numbers.  On  our  first 
Sunday  afternoon  we  encountered  a 


dense  fog,  which  was  punctuated  with 
blasts  from  the  whistle  every  minute 
of  the  two  or  three  hours  that  the  fog 
continued.  The  next  morning  we  had 
a  shower  which  lasted  a  little  while. 
On  Saturday  afternoon  wind  began  to 
blow  and  the  sea  became  quite  rough, 
and  it  was  not  until  Sunday  night  that 
the  usual  calm  was  restored.  By  Mon- 
day night  the  sea  was  like  glass,  and  so 
it  remained  during  the  rest  of  our  voy- 
age. The  temperature  was  an  agreeable 
change  from  the  heat  we  left  behind, 
and  at  no  time  was  it  unpleasantly  cool 
We  three  were  people  of  pride  and  took 
the  greatest  care  to  appear  in  the  dining 
saloon  at  the  regular  hours  three  times 
each  day,  and  to  spend  the  rest  of  the 
time  on  deck.  A  deck  chair  and  a 
steamer  rug  furnished  a  luxurious  ease, 
which  one  was  loath  to  quit  even  for 
the  dining  saloon,  and  even  at  midnight 
a  stateroom  berth  offered  but  slight  in- 
ducements. Some  were  not  so  fortu 
cate  with  their  pride  as  we,  and  vacant 
places  were  to  be  noted,  especially  dur- 

i  ing  the  rough    weather  of  the  second 
j  Sunday.        Two    ministers    who    were 
|  among  the  passengers,   conducted  ser- 
vice in  the  dining-saloon  each  Sunday. 

As  usual,  birds  of  a  feather  flock  to- 
gether, for  we  made  most  pleasant  ac- 
quaintances among  some  young  college 
graduates  like  ourselves,  Yale,  Prince- 
ton and  the  University  of  Minnesota  be- 
ing represented.  Together  we  whiled 
a.way  many  happy  hours  with  stories, 
songs  and  the  games  popular  on  ship- 
board, such  as  quoits,  ring-toss  and 
shnffleboards.  One  afternoon  we  had  a 
field  day  in  athletics,  with  running, 
.jumping  and  wrestling.  The  evenings 
we  liked  to  spend  at  the  bow  on  the 
saloon-deck  in  the  full  light  of  the  moon, 
until  10:30,  when  we  went  to  the  dining 
saloon  for  the  lunch  which  we  consid- 
ered a  necessary  conclusion  of  the  even- 
ing. College  men  have  an  inexhausti- 
fund  of  scngs  and  stories,  and  thus  we 
!  had  a  change  of  programme  every  night. 
!  In  spite  of  the  opposition  to  co-educa- 
tion manifested  by'  the  representative 
from  Yale,  the  ladies  were  allowed  to 


participate  in  onr  festivities,  and  this 
the  more  readily  because  the  Yale  rep- 
resentative had  on  board  a  yonng  lady 
cousin  of  whom  he  was  very  fond.  The 
crowning  event  in  onr  series  of  enter- 
tainments was  on  the  second  Saturday 
evening  when  our  jolly  purser  was  our 
guest  of  honor.  He  was  presented  with 
a  book  of  poems.  As  the  book  could 
not  be  purchased  we  had  to  make  it, 
poetry  and  all;  each  person  contributing 
an  original  poem.  The  good  purser  re- 
galed us  with  stories  of  the  sea,  especi- 
ally of  his  own  experiences,  which  in- 
cluded several  fires  and  shipwrecks, 

On  the  second  Monday  evening  a  con- 
cert was  given  by  some  of  the  passengers, 
and  attended  by  nearly  all  the  cabin 
passengers.  The  proceeds,  amounting 
to  $120,  went  for  the  benefit  of  the 
sufferers  in  the  Hoboken  fire.  One  of 
the  steerage  passengers  had  been  robbed, 
just  before  sailing,  of  four  or  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  all  his  savings  for  the  past 
eight  years,  and  was  left  utterly  desti- 
tute. A  purse  was  made  up  by  the 
passengers,  sufficient  to  take  him  and 
his  family  to  his  former  home  in  Ger- 
many. One  other  incident  is  worth  re- 
lating. The  first  Sunday  night  as  we 
were  gathered  at  the  bow,  and  were 
singing  hymns,  two  little  girls  from  the 
steerage  came  shyly  up  and  stood  at  a 
little  distance  listening  most  intently. 
i  We  noticed  them  and  asked  them  to 
1  come  and  sing  for  us  in  German.  They 
|  did  most  gladly,  but  great  was  our  sur- 
!  prise  when  they  started  up  in  English, 
"At  the  cross,  where  I  first  saw  the 
light."  Then  we  asked  again  for  some- 
thing in  German,  but  they  said  they 
knew  nothing  by  heart,  and  must  get 
their  book.  They  went  in  search  of  it 
and  soon  returned  with  a  book,  and 
apologized  because  they  could  not  find 
the  German  one.  We  asked  them  to 
sing  some  from  the  book  they  had, which 
they  did,  giving  several  gospel  hymns 
and  closing  with  the  Battle  Hymn  of  the 
Republic.  In  this  book  they  had  copied 
with  pencil  nearly  a  hundred  hymns, 
and  had  carefully  indexed  them.  We 
learned  that  they  were  from  Minnesota, 
and  with  their  father,  were  on  their 


way  back  to  Germany.  A  better  illus- 
tration of  the  ability  of  the  American 
people  to  assimilate  the  immigrants 
could  hardly  be  found.  On  board  the 
steamer,  however,  everything  was  thor- 
oughly German.  The  mother  tongue  of 
every  member  of  the  crew  was  German, 
and  only  a  few  of  the  higher  officers 
knew  more  than  a  few  words  of  Eng- 
lish. Most  of  the  passengers  were  Ger- 
man-speaking, and  those  who  were  not 
were  obliged  to  muster  up  such  German 
as  they  could,  and  those  who  knew  no 
German  had  perforce  to  learn  a  few 
phrases.  The  cooking  was  German, but 
there  were  fewer  strange  preparations 
than  one  would  have  expected,  and  we 
were  able  to  enjoy  our  meals  heartily. 
Only  one  thing  did  we  find  it  impossible 
to  manage,  and  that  was  the  chocolate, 
which  contained  a  far  larger  proportion 
of  chocolate  and  sugar  than  we  could 
find  courage  to  drink.  German  drink- 
ing customs  were  prevalent,  and  for  us 
who  had  not  learned  to  conform  to  these 
customs,  mineral  water  was  a  necessity, 
as  the  ordinary  water  carried  by  the  ship 
could  scarcely  be  classed  as  drinkable. 
A  last  word  in  regard  to  the  offi- 
cers and  then  I  will  turn  to  the 
story  of  our  last  day  on  board.  Of  the 
purser  and  his  genial  manners  I  have 
already  spoken.  Without  doubt  he  was 
the  most  popular  official  on  board.  Next 
in  order  should  probably  be  ranked  one 
of  the  doctors,  a  small  active  man  of 
nervous  temperament  and  with  a  great 
fondness  of  music.  The  captain,  who 
was  not  to  be  seen  so  frequently,  was  a 
large,  good-hearted  man,  but  quite  re- 
served. He  has  been  a  captain,  making 
constant  trips  across  the  Atlantic,  for 
eight  years,  yet  his  wife  has  never  made 
the  voyage,  as  she  is  not  allowed  to  tra- 
vel on  the  same  ship  with  her  husband, 
though  she  might  travel  by  any  other 
vessel  of  the  company  on  a  pass. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  Monday, 
we  began  to  notice  evidence  of  our  ap- 
proach to  the  English  Channel  for  sev- 
eral ships  were  visible  on  our  horizon. 
All  Tuesday  morning  we  were  constant- 
ly sighting  the  vessels,  both  steamers 
and  sailing  ships,  some  of  which  were 


very  email.  All  day  long  we  were  in 
sight  of  the  Marquette  of  the  American 
Transport  Line  tor  London.  The  morn- 
ing we  spent  in  adding  postscripts  to  onr 
letters  and  writing  postals  telling  of  onr 
safe  arrival.  As  we  came  on  deck  after 
dinner,  we  homed  to  the  bow  to  catch 
the  first  sight  of  land.  At  first  it  ap- 
peared like  a  cloud  extending  along  onr 
horizon  for  some  distance,  then  we 
conld  discern  a  needle-like  streak  of 
white— the  Bishoprock  lighthouse,  the 
western-most  point  of  the  Scilly  Islands. 
Then  slowly  the  outlines  of  the  hills, 
could  be  distinguished  against  the  sky. 
Then  we  were  able,  little  by  little,  to 
make  out  the  several  islands.  They  are 
small,  some  of  them  mere  rocks  that 
scarcely  rise  above  the  water;  others 
are  single  rocks  rising  sheer  out  of  the 
water,  and  only  a  few  of  them  are  large 
enongh  to  be  counted  as  islands.  Even 
their  shores  rise  in  most  places  in  high 
cliffs  from  the  water's  edge.Picturepque 
they  are  to  be  sure,  but  inhospitable 
and  forbidding  even  when  they  are  the 
first  land  one  has  seen  in  ten  days.  One 
no  longer  wonders  that  the  historian 
speaks  of  the  Phoenicians  as  hardy  ad- 
venturous sailors,  when  he  recalls  that 
it  was  to  these  islands  they  came,  un- 
known centuries  ago,  to  fetch  the  tin 
which  enabled  them  to  supply  the  na- 
tions of  antiquity  with  their  bronze  im 
plements  and  weapons.  As  we  passed 
the  lighthouse  our  signals  were  rung 
up  and,  in  a  few  moments,  New  York 
had  learned  that  the  Phcrnecia  was 
safe.  Soon  we  were  again  out  of  sight 
of  land,  but  in  a  short  time  we  were  be- 
ing treated  to  a  beautiful  view  of  the 
greatest  naval  and  commercial  people 
of  our  own  time.  We  began  to  discern 
on  the  horizon  directly  ahead  of  us  war- 
ships. Our  interest  was  at  the  highest 
pitch,  for  the  condition  of  the  Chinese 
question,  according  to  our  latest 
information,  was  most  critical,  and 
we  could  not  guess  what  unexpected 
developments  ten  days  might  have 
brought  forth.  In  a  few  moments 
we  were  able  to  distinguish  twenty- 
two  vessels,  and  later  a  few 
more.  Before  long  we  could  mark  the 


movements  of  the  vessels  and  discern 
that  they  were  merely  maneuvering  in 
a  most  peaceable  fashion.  The  fleet 
was  composed  of  English  naval  vessels 
of  all  sorts,  from  the  largest  battleships 
and  fastest  cruisers  to  the  small  torpedo 
boats.  We  passed  near  enough  to  bnt 
one  of  the  vessels  to  read  its  name.  It 
was  the  Sirius,  which  belongs  on  the 
Devonport  station.  The  sight  was  a 
most  magnificent  one  as  the  vessels  be- 
came distinctly  outlined  to  ns  and  as 
the  lishthouse  and  the  shores  of  Corn- 
wall arose  to  form  the  background  of 
the  picture.  Just  as  we  were  passing 
the  fleet,  our  bow  was  crossed  by  the 
North  Grerman  Lloyd  steamer  Lahn, 
which  had  sailed  from  Hoboken  on  the 
Tuesday  after  we  did.  For  some  hours 
we  sailed  wichin  sisht  of  the  shores  of 
Merry  England,  until  the  lighthouse  of 
Cape  Lizard  had  been  passed,  then  as 
night  came  on,  the  English  coast  was 
lost  to  view.  The  beautiful  moonlight 
and  the  quiet  sea  formed  pleasant  sur- 
roundings while  we  told  our  last  stories, 
sang  our  last  songs  and  took  our  last 
promenade  up  and  down  the  decks.  In 
the  afternoon  we  had  boldly  talked  of 
the  uselessness  of  attempting  sleep 
during  the  night  for  the  captain  had  an- 
nounced that  we  were  to  be  called  at 
three  o'clock,  breakfasted  at  four,  and 
landed  at  five.  It  was  not  long  after 
eleven,  however,  that  our  courage  gave 
out  and  one  by  one  we  stole  away  to 
snatch  a  few  hours  of  sleep. 

It  was  not  yet  three  o'clock  when  we 
were  called,  so  that  we  were  able  to  get 
on  deck  in  time  to  see  the  dawn,  and  to 
watch  the  gray  of  the  horizon  gradual- 
ly become  clearly  outlined  to  us  as  the 
shores  of  France,  and  later  we  watched 
the  sun  rise  from  the  sea  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  ship.  At  four  a  light 
breakfast  was  served,  after  which  we 
found  our  waiters  all  lined  up  about  the 
door  to  say  goodbye,  and  incidentally 
to  allow  us  to  give  them  a  tip— the  first 
of  many,  as  we  have  learned.  Then  the 
pilot  came  on  board  to  take  ns  to  our 
anchorage  off  the  Cherbourg  break- 
water. He  brought  the  news  that  the 


Phoenicia's  thirty-sixth  trans-Atlantic 
voyage  was  to  b3  her  last,  for  a  time  st 
least,  as  she  was  under  orders  to  con- 
vey a  body  of  German  troops  to  China 
—on  which  errand  she  has  just  this  af- 
ternoon, Angnst  4— sailed  from  Bremer- 
haven  after  a  farewell  speech  to  the 
troops  by  Prince  Henry. 

Cherbourg  itself  is  a  qniet  old  town 
of  40,000  people,  but  its  surrounding  hills 
and  its  harbor  have  been  made  into  one 
of  the  strongest  French  fortresses,  and, 
after  Brest  and  Toulon,  the  most  im- 
portant naval  harbor  .and  dockyard  in 
France.  The  city  is  situated  on  the 
northern  coast  of  the  peninsula  of  the 
Cotentin  and  opposite  Southampton.  In 
its  neighborhood  have  taken  place  many 
a  struggle  between  the  English  and 
French,  notably  Admiral  Russell's  de- 
feat of  Admiral  DeTourville  in  1692, 
and  Lord  Howe's  successful  attack  on 
the  fortifications  of  Cherbourg  itself  in 
1758.  In  Cherbourg  the  envoys  of  the 
Confederate  States  prepared  a  banquet 
in  honor  of  the  victory  of  the  Alabama 
over  the  Kearsarge,  but,  after  watching 
the  battle  off  the  harbor,  they  concluded 
that  there  was  no  need  of  serving  the 
banquet.  The  present  greatness  of  Cher- 
bourg dates  from  the  time  of  the  Em- 
peror Napoleon  who  began  the  construc- 
tion of  the  enormous  breakwater  which 
stretches  a  distance  of  4130  yards  across 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  with  a  breadth 
at  the  base  of  100  yards  and  at  the  top 
of  GO  yards.  At  either  end  are  massive 
forts.  Near  the  centre  are  two  other 
forta,  one  of  which  is  crowned  by  a 
lighthouse,  while  guns  are  mounted  in 
groups  of  five  along  the  whole  length  of 
the  breakwater.  To  the  west  of  the 
city  is  the  vast  naval  harbor,  with  its 
dockyards,  magazines  and  barracks,  pro- 
tected to  landward  by  massive  earth- 
work fortifications  and  to  seaward  by  a 
series  of  forts,  in  connection  with  the 
forts  on  the  breakwater.  Curiously 
enough  these  great  works,  which  were 
designed  to  offset  England's  naval  har- 
bor at  Plymouth,  were  opened  on  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  last  Eng- 


lish attack  on  the  city,  in  the  presence 
of  Napoleon  III.  and  Queen  Victoria  in  I 


1858.  The  islets  in  the  harbor,  the  main- 
land opposite  the  eastern  end  of  the 
breakwater,  and  the  hills  back  of  the  city 
are  all  carefully  fortified.  In  the  centre 
of  the  town  the  inner  harbor,  with  its 
quays,  has  been  constructed  entirely  of 
stone,  like  everything  else  about  the 
town.  With  such  quays  a  Hoboken  tire 
is  an  impossibility. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  see  Cher- 
bourg and  its  harbor  under  the  most 
advantageous  conditions.  When  the 
tender  at  last  made  fast  to  the  side  of 
our  ship  and  we  had  said  goodbye  to  the 
friends  (notably  our  friend  the  medical 
student)  who  were  going  on  to  Ham- 
burg, and  had  got  aboard  the  tender, 
the  first  news  to  greet  us  was  that  Pres- 
ident Loubet  was  to  arrive  in  Cherbourg 
in  the  afternoon  to  witness  a  review  of 
the  fleet,  and  other  events  connected 
therewith.  This  was  truly  an  opportuni 
ty  not  to  be  missed,  and  we  determined  to 
make  the  most  of  it.  Our  next  demand 
or  news  from  China,  but  wo  found 
that  ten  days  had  not  materially  altered 
the  situation,  so  far  as  the  newspapers 
!  were  concerned,  for  they  were  still  sure 
!  that  the  Ambassadors  had  been  mur- 
dered. We  passed  back  to  the  friends 
on  board  the  Phoenicia  these  bits  of 
news,  shouted  a  last  goodbye,  and  then 
turned  our  eyes  to  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  fortifications  as  we  passed 
them  at  close  range,  and  of  the  three 
dozen  war  vessels  lying  in  the  harbor, 
among  which  we  threaded  our  way  into 
the  inner  commercial  harbor.  Snch  a 
view  of  the  fleets  of  two  great  nations 
on  two  successive  days  was  an  oppor- 
tunity seldom  offered,  and  one  which 
we  enjoyed  to  the  utmost.  On  the  tender 
we  found,  in  full  uniform,  the  health 
officers  of  the  port  and  the  customs  of- 
ficials. With  the  latter  of  these  we 
were  to  have  personal  dealings.  As  soon 
as  we  landed  we  opened  our  grips  in  the 
presence  of  one  of  the  officials,  he  asked 
if  we  had  any  tobacco  or  cigars,  and  on 
assurance  to  the  contrary, stuck  his  hand 
in  the  grip  as  a  matter  of  form  and  put 
a  white  chalk  mark  on  it.  The  whole 
business  was  over  in  less  than  a  minute. 


Throughout  Western  Europe  there  seem 
to  be  but  three  classes  of  things  which 
the  customs  official  is  after  in  examining 
baggage.  They  are  tobacco  in  all  forms, 
matches,  and  all  sorts  of  beer,  wine  and 
liquor.  Our  next  business  was  to  get 
our  ticket  to  Paris,  and  settle  on  what 
train  we  should  go,  and  to  get  our  mon- 
ey changed  into  French  currency.  We 
next  looked  up  a  hotel— the  Hotel  de 
France  et  du  Commerce— where  we  left 
our  luggage.and  then  set  out  to  find  the 
railroad  station  and  a  telegraph  office  in 
order  to  send  home  the  expected  cable- 
gram. At  10  o'clock  we  sat  down  to 
dejeuner  at  the  hotel,  with  the  tourist 
party,  which,  like  ourselves,  was  on  the 
way  to  Paris.  Our  tables  were  spread 
in  the  large  banqueting  hall  of  the  hotel 
and  made  a  very  pretty  sight.  Here  we 
had  our  first  introduction  to  French 
cooking  and  French  drinks.  The  cook- 
ing was  not  up  to  the  French  standard, 
but  we  were  hungry  and  did  our  duty 
by  what  was  set  before  us.  Here  it  be- 
came necessary  for  me  to  bring  into  use 
for  the  first  time  the  little  French  I 
knew  in  order  to  find  what  substitute 
for  wine  I  could  get.  With  some  diffi 
cnlty,!  managed  to  get  a  bottle  of  Vichy- 
Etat.an  article  which  I  have  since  found 
to  be  the  one  mineral  water  that  one  can 
be  reasonably  sure  of  getting  any  where 
in  France.  This, my  first  meal  in  France, 
cost  me  a  dollar,  a  price  which  I  have 
learned  to  divide  by  two  and  even  four, 
with  good  results. 

After  our  dcji>nnrr,  we  started  out 
to  see  the  town.  I  had  three  ex- 
periences all  at  once,  which  I  was 
destined  to  repeat  many  times.  A  few 
doors  from  the  hotel,  our  eyes  were 
caught  by  some  souvenir  postal  cards 
in  a  window.  We  went  in  and  invest- 
ed—a custom  which  we  have  followed 
in  each  town  since.  The  storekeeper 
took  us  for  Englishmen— and  every 
where  since  then  we  have  been  called 
English  and  never  once  American 
When  we  explain  that  we  are  from 
America,  the  chances  are  that  we  will 
be  considered  as  from  South  America. 
In  France,  ''Anglais"  was  constantly 
muttered  behind  our  backs,  and  that  in 


a  tone  not  indicative  of  either  fondness 
or  indifference.  Even  here  in  Germany, 
the  two  thoroughly  German  names  of 
Rammelkainp  and  Dntcher,  and  the 
characteristic  German  features  of  my 
friend  have  failed  to  prove  a  claim 
against  the  appelations  of  "Englander" 
and  "em  paar  Englander"  which  we 
hear  behind  onr  backs  constantly,  in  a 
tone  that  is  not  altogether  affectionate. 
Neverthless  the  good  storekeeper  had 
something  that  interested  me — a  stock 
of  second-hand  books— and  I  did  not 
leave  till  I  had  looked  them  over  to  my 
satisfaction.  We  wandered  thence 
down  along  the  quays  and  there  found 
an  equestrian  statue  of  Napoleon,  with 
an  inscription  in  which  he  compares 
the  work  of  constructing  the  break- 
water to  which  he  points,  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  pyramids.  Nearby  we 
found  the  church,  a  building  of  the 
15th  century,  which  was  being  carefully 
repaired,  like  every  other  old  building 
we  have  since  found— even  the  Cologne 
Cathedral. 

The  heat,  which  was  just  as  intense 
as  we  had  left  in  New  York  eleven  days 
before,  overcame  our  curiosity  and  we 
boarded  the  street  cars  for  a  ride,  not 
knowing  whither  we  were  going.  This 
street  car  was  a  curious  little  open  af- 
fair, propelled  by  a  locomotive  steam 
engine,  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  size 
of  the  car.  The  conductor,  like  all 
street  car  conductors  in  France,  sold  us 
tickets,  at  three  cents  each,  instead  of 
ringing  up  our  fares.  The  ticket  is  not 
collected,  but  the  passenger  throws  it 
away  on  leaving  the  car.  The  train 
took  us  to  the  westerly  suburb  of  the 
city  and  landed  us  near  the  fortifica- 
tions We  took  the  opportunity  to  ex- 
amine them  and  learn  what  the  walls 
of  a  city  of  the  present  day  are  like,  and 
to  look  over  the  French  soldier,  a 
batallion  of  one  of  the  famous 
regiments  marching  past,  for  our  benefit. 

The  festivities  at  Cherbourg  and  this 
visit  to  the  suburbs  gave  us  an  insight 
into  the  life  of  the  peasants  of  the  Co- 
tentin.  The  houses  in  Cherbourg  and  its 
suburbs  are  all  of  stone,  with  roofs  of 


varions  aorta  of  tiling.  The  people  ap- 
pear hard  worked  and  care  worn,  while 
their  costumes  are  quite  peculiar  to  onr 
eyes,  especially  those  of  the  children 
and  the  men,  who  wear  a  long  black 
gown-like  jacket  as  their  outermost  gar- 
ment. This  we  have  fonnd  to  be  the 
regnlar  garb  of  the  children,  especially 
of  the  boys,  bnt  we  have  not  seen  it 
worn  by  the  men  elsewhere.  One  thing 
that  I  have  noticed  everywhere  from 
Cherbourg  onwards  is  the  frequency 
with  which  mourning  is  worn  not  only 
by  women  bnt  by  men  and  children, 
Another  custom  which  we  noticed  here 
for  the  first  time,  was  the  use  of  dogs  to 
draw  the  carts  in  which  the  produce  was 
being  taken  to  market.  The  streets  in 
the  older  parts  of  the  town  are  narrow 
and  lacking  in  cleanliness,  sewerage  fre- 
quently flowing  in  the  gutters. 

Soon  after  3  o'clock  we  made  our  way 
back  to  our  hotel,  collected  our  baggage 
and  located  ourselves  as  near  the  rail 
road  station  as  possible.  Here  was  a 
triumphal  arch  erected  for  the  occasion, 
and  Chinese  lanterns,  flags,  and  other 
decorations  galore.  In  the  streets  in 
front  of  the  station,  were  drawn  up  the 
troops  of  the  garrison  of  Cherbourg, sur- 
rounded by  crow("-y  of  citizens  and  vis- 
itors. Promptly  ,it  the  scheduled  time, 
3:50  P.  M  ,  the  firing  of  the  Presidential 
salute  from  the  fort  above  the  station 
announced  the  arrival  of  the  President's 
train.  After  a  moment's  delay,  the 
President  appeared,  accompanied  by 
several  officials  from  Paris,  and  escorted 
by  the  local  officials.  In  the  open  square 
in  front  of  the  station,  surroanded  by 
the  troops,  the  President  was  formally 
welcomed  to  the  city,  and  the  various 
necessary  formalities  were  observed.  M. 
Loubet  is  by  no  means  an  imposing  per 
son.  He  is  short  and  rather  stockily- 
built.  His  hair  and  full  beard  are  al- 
most gray.  His  face  is  a  cairn,  quiet 
one.  There  was  nothing  in  any  way 
striking  or  spectacular  about  him,  his 
diess,  or  his  behav\or,  so  that  M.  Loubet 
does  not  appeal  to  the  French  people  in 
the  same  way  as  did  his  predecessor,  M. 
Faure. 


Access  to  the  compartment  can  be  had 
only  from  steps  running  the  length  of 
the  car  on  the  outside.  There  are,  how- 
ever, a  few  "corridor  trains."  These  are 
made  np  of  vestibnled  cars  with  an  aisle 
along  one  side  and  compartments  seat 
ing  eight  persons  on  the  other  side. 
Smoking  is  allowed  everywhere  except 
in  compartments  marked  for  non-smok- 
ers, or  ladies  only.  Handbaggage  may 
be  carried  without  restriction,  as  with 
ns,  but  the  free  limit  for  checked  bag- 
gage is  from  fifty-five  to  sixty  five 
pounds,  and  the  rate  of  excess  baggage 
Is  very  high  so  that  one  must  carry  as 
little  as  possible.  The  arrangements  for 
the  checking  of  baggage  are  far  less  con- 
venient than  with  us.  The  locomotives 
are  generally  much  smaller  than  the 
American  ones,  and  have  no  cow-catch- 
er. The  freight  cars,  like  the  passenger 
cars,  are  very  small  and  resemble  little 
coal  "jimmies"  which  were  formerly 
in  use  in  the  United  States.  Much  of  the 
switching  is  done  by  horses.  The  num- 
ber of  persons  to  be  carried  in  a  coach 
or  the  load  of  a  freight  car  is  carefully 
marked  on  the  outside,  and  these  figures 
must  not  be  exceeded.  The  trains  run 
on  the  lefthand  track  instead  of  the 
righthand  one  as  with  us.  The  time 
throughout  France  is  that  of  Paris  and 
is  a  trifle  earlier  than  that  of  Green- 
wich, but  the  trains  always  run  five 
minutes  behind  schedule,  the  railroad 
clocks  being  kept  five  minutes  slow  for 
this  purpose.  The  telegraph  poles, 
which  are,  of  course,  the  most  familiar 
sight  from  the  car  windows,  do  not  have 
the  wires  attached  to  long  cross  pieces, 
but  each  wire  has  a  short  iron  arm  all  to 
itself.  These  arms  are  arranged  in  order 
down  either  side  of  the  pole  to  within 
about  ten  feet  of  the  ground.  The 
French  railroads,  although  they  are  not 
owned  by  the  State,  are,  never- 
theless, under  direct  State  control. 
The  monopoly  of  a  certain  section 
is  assigned  to  a  corporation,  thus 
the  good  effect  of  competition  is  lost, 
and  no  vigorous  effort  is  made  to  im- 
prove the  equipment  and  service  of  the 
road.  The  valuable  x^art  of  the  arrange 
ment  is  that  the  State  may  at  any  time 


bay  np  all  the  roads,  without  involving 
any  loss  because  of  the  existence  of  com- 
peting lines.  The  railroad  officials  are 
not  visible  on  the  train,  bnt  are  to  be 
fonnd  in  quantities  at  the  stations;  the 
most  cnrions  thing  being  that  the  tick 
ets  are  not  collected  by  a  conductor  on 
the  train,  but  are  punched  at  the  start- 
ing point  and  collected  at  the  end  of  the 
journey,  by  station  officials. 

Our  parry  on.  the  way  to  Paris  con- 
sisted of  eight  of  the  former  passengers 
of  the  Phoenicia.  The  trip  took  us  near- 
ly eight  hours,  during  half  of  which 
time  we  were  able  to  watch  the  scenery 
carefully.  The  Cotentin,  after  we  passed 
the  hills  around  Cherbourg,  proved  to 
be  a  level  country  not  much  above  the 
sea  level.  The  water  courses  are  numer- 
ous, but  very  small,  and  have  each  bank 
lined  with  trees,  which  consist  of  the 
trunk  with  a  few  leaves  along  the  upper 
part  and  at  the  top  a  tuft,  of  young 
branches.  This  trimming  of  the  trees 
is  to  prevent  the  development  of  foliage 
in  order  to  stimulate  the  growth  of  roots 
and'  thereby  hold  the  banks  intact.  The 
industries  of  the  country  are  gardening 
and  dairy  farming.  The  people  do  not 
live  in  the  country  to  any  extent,  but  in 
the  numerous  compact  little  hamlets 
built  around  the  parish  church.  The 
houses  are  mostly  of  stone,  with  thatched 
roofs.  The  railroad  stations  are  not  in 
the  villages,  but  just  on  the  outskirts, 
or,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  rail- 
road runs  half  way  between  two  towns 
about  a  mile  apart  and  has  one  station 
for  the  two  towns.  After  passing  Ca- 
rentan,  we  crossed  the  little  rever  Vire 
and  entered  the  plains  of  Normandy, 
where  the  scenery  continued  to  be  much 
the  same.  We  passed  through  Bayeux, 
known  to  us  because  of  the  famous  tap- 
estry preserved  t  here,  and  came  to  the 
old  city  of  Caen,  where  we  stopped  for 
half  an  hour.  Hunger  drove  us  to  make 
a  raid  on  the  railroad  restaurant,  where, 
with  the  aid  of  many  motions  and  an 
occasional  French  phrase,  I  collected 
enough  lunch  for  the  crowd  at  what  I 
then  regarded  as  the  extravagant  sum 
of  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents.  I  have 
since  learned  that  I  had  managed 


to  satisfy  eight  appetites  at  a  very 
reasonable  figure,  but,  at  the  time, 
nine  francs  sonnded  like  a  mnch  larger 
sum  than  a  dollar  and  eighty  cents. 
The  fact  that  the  nnit  of  currency  is 
only  a  fifth  as  large  as  onrs  has  a  most 
useful  effect  in  producing  economy. 
From  Caen  to  Paris  our  compartment 
was  shared  by  two  men  from  the  French 
navy  who  were  on  their  way  from  Cher- 
bourg to  Toulon.  One  of  them  knew 
some  English  and  G-erman,  consequent-  i 
ly  we  were  able  to  carry  on  something 
of  a  conversation.  Near  Lisieux  we  j 
entered  a  somewhat  hilly  country,  and  j 
passed  through  a  tunnel  a  mile  and 
three-quarters  long.  The  rest  of  the 
way  to  Paris  seemed  to  consist  largely 
of  tunnels,  which  are  certainly  far 
more  frequent  than  on  American  rail- 
roads. After  passing  through  several 
other  old  towns,  such  as  Evreux  and 
Mantes,  our  train  stopped  in  the  train 
sheds  of  the  enormous  Gare  St.  Lazaire 
(St.  Lazarus  station),  in  Paris.  Here 
we  found  the  agents  of  the  tourist  com- 
pany awaiting  our  friends,  so  we  bade 
them  farewell.  Directly  we  discovered 
another  Cornellian,  a  member  of  the 
class  of  '99,  who  was  waiting  for  us 
and  soon  had  us  in  a  cab  driving  past 
the  Madeleine,  across  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde,  the  Pont  de  la  Concorde  and 
down  the  Boulevard  St.  Germain,  and 
thence  across  to  the  Boulevard  du 
Montparnasae  to  his  pension,  or  board- 
inghouse.  Here,  thanks  to  the  kindness 
of  our  good  friend,  we  were  to  spend 
eight  days  while  viewing  the  Exposi- 
tion. Paris  and  the  Exposition  were 
for  another  day  and  form  another  story. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


OirEGo  TIMES. 


THURSDAY.   SEPTEMBER  13,  1900. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.   Dut<  her  Writ**  another  Intt-r- 
'ter. 

' 

;i  new  ami    strange    life    to 
which    we    av\ 
Thnr.-day.  the  i'.'th  of  Jnl 
the    in. -titl   brer. 

containing    i'»nr    br-  -r.    as    the 

h   call  it. 
>f  a  crip 

and  a  bit  of  barter  for 
d.bnt 

iay  be  had. 

Bread  come.-  in  ronml  i  meter 

that    it    is    actually    bought 
•^  meter.     In  servii1- 

aal  to 

abi»nr  fonr  or  ti\>-  -  "roui  these 

petite 

the  French  brr 

1.  brittle  crn-t 

!t».     The 

a«l»l  it  t"  snit  yonr  : 
iiail  been  hav. 

liar  break  -t  so  innch 

unpr-  - 

frieinl  who  hail   \ 
lomeil    to  a   !.< 

snch  si>*vinien>  nl'  Amt-ri.-an  Inxnry. 

,f'iul  had  made  a  Blight  ; 

•artedont  to  see  Pari:>  by 
the  liirht  of  day.  The  offices  of  the  tonf- 
.nd  bank-- 

aronnd  the    (  |.era    honse    on  the 
north    siile  of  the  river   more  than    two 
miles   from  onr  ro  mi.     1    jr 
walk      this      d.  ,t      to 

the    ast.misln:: 

-iiment    which  WM 
bv  the  apparent  boldness    with  which  1 


struck  out  for  the  place,  and  turned 
corners  and  down  narrow  streets  or 
boulevards  as  "the  case  might  be,  and 
brought  him  out  to  his  destination,  the 
American  Express  office.  From  thence 
we  visited  several  other  places  on  er- 
rands, until  my  friend's  appetite  de- 
manded another  peace-offering.  We 
forthwith  searched  out  the  nearest  Du- 
val  restaurant  where  we  indulged  for 
the  first  time  in  the  mysteries  of  a  Pari- 
sian menu.  With  slight  trouble  we  suc- 
ceeded in  making  a  good  American 
meal  of  what  the  Frenchmen  calls  his 
dcjcinicr.  The  Duval  restaurants,  of 
which  there  are  a  large  number  scat- 
tered all  over  Paris,  were  started  by  a 
M.  Dnval  about  twenty  five  years  ago, 
and  now  form  one  of  the  great  institu- 
tions of  the  city.  Except  in  the  original 
establishment  the  waiters  are  all  wo- 
men, attired  in  black  gowns  with  white 
aprons  and  caps.  On  entering  one  re- 
ceives a  printed  slip  upon  which  the 
waiter  checks  up  his  orders.  Every  thing, 
oven  to  the  napkins,  is  charged,  though 
the  meats  as  a  rule  include  a  side  dish 
of  potatoes,  beans  or  some  other  vegeta- 
bles, Wines  are  generally  served,  but 
one  can  get  almost  any  other  drink. 
The  prices  are  very  moderate,  and  a 
meal  can  be  had  at  anything  from  one 
franc  (twenty  cents)  upwards,  and  for 
two  francs  one  fares  well  You  pay  your 
account  at  the  cashier's  desk  and  leave 
the  slip  at  the  door  as  you  go  out.  The 
waiters  depend  upon  the  ''tips"  for  their 
wages.  On  leaving  the  table,  you  hand 
them,  or  leave  by  your  plate  an  amount 
*  qual  to  five  or  ten  per  cent,  of  your  ac- 
counts. It  was  on  entering  this  restaurant 
that  we  discovered  our  second  Cornell 
acquaintance  in  Paris,  a  member  of  the 
class  of '99. 

The  next  experience  was  a  peculiar 
compound  of  railroad  employes,  cus- 
toms officials  and  cab  drivers  The  prob- 
lem to  be  solved  was  how  to  get  my  trunk 
and  convey  it  to  my  room.  The  railroad 
station  was  easily  discovered,  but  like 
the  Grand  Central  in  New  York,  it  was 
another  job  to  get  into  the  right  part  of 
it,  which  could  only  be  done  by  going 
around  outside  and  down  the  street  for 


some  distance.  Then  there  was  still  the 
bother  of  finding  the  right  room.  It  was 
dnring  this  process  that  a  nnifomied  in- 
terpreter came  np  and  offered  his  servi- 
ces. With  his  assistance  the  trnnk  was 
soon  fonnd  and  was  passed  by  the  ens 
toms  official,  without  opening,  npon  my 
statement  that  it  contained  no  wine, 
tolvicco,  or  cigars.  Then  my  interpreter 
called  a  cab,  bnt  by  this  time  the  cus- 
toms department  was  closed.  A  small 
tip  sufficed  to  get  the  door  open  and  the 
trnnk  ont,  and  all  was  well.  The  porter, 
of  conrse,  most  have  his  "tip"  but  the 
interpreter  was  not  entitled  to  expect 
any.  However, ontof  gratitude  I  gave  him 
fifty  centimes  (ten  cents)  with  as  much 
fervor  asif  it  had  been  fifty  cents,  which 
he  accepted  in  the  spirit  in  which  it 
was  given.  The  cab  took  na  down  the 
avenue  de  1'  Opera  and  through  under 
the  Louvre,  and  across  the  Pontdu  Car- 
rousal  and  thence  by  the  narrow  streets 
of  the  Latin  quarter  to  our  room. 

Cabs  are  the  most  numerous  sort  of 
vehicle  on  the  Parisian  street,  and  can 
be  found  anywhere  at  almost  any  hour 
and  will  take  one  to  any  part  of  the 
city.  They  are,  in  many  ways,  the  most 
convenient  though  not  the  cheapest 
mode  of  transportation.  The  fare  is  one 
franc  and  one  half  (thirty  cents)  for 
drives  begun  between  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing and  twelve-thirty  midnight,  with  a 
tip  of  twenty-five  centimes  (five  cents) 
to  the  driver,  which  is  called  his  "pour- 
boire,"  that  ia  "for  a  drink."  The  night 
fare  is  fifty  per  cent.  more,  and  baggage 
is  carried  at  twenty-five  centimes  apiece. 
The  cabs  seat  two  persons  but  three 
may  ride  without  discomfort  and  many 
of  the  cabs  also  have  a  small  folding 
seat  which  may  be  used  by  a  fourth  per- 
son. There  is  no  extra  charge  for  the 
extra  number  of  persons,  but  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  give  the  driver  two  francs  for 
a  trip  or  "course"  as  it  is  called,  with  a 
little  more  in  case  of  more  than  two 
persons,  or  of  a  very  long  conrse.  It  is 
conducive  to  pleasant  relations  with  a 
driver,  especially  in  the  evening,  to  se- 
lect one  whose  "depot"  or  station  is 
nearest  your  destination.  These  depots 
are  indicated  by  the  color  of  the  lights. 


The  number  of  cabs  in  Paris  seems  to 
be  somewhat  over  17,000,  as  in  the 
conrse  of  a  single  drive  I  noticed  num- 
bers, ranging  all  the  way  from  IS  np  to 
17,200.  The  cabs  are  all  owned  by  one 
company  and  the  drivers  are  required  to 
tnrn  in  a  definite  sum  each  day  to  the 
company.  What  they  make  over  that 
amount  is  their  own.  The  amonnt 
which  they  are  reqnired  to  pay  has  re- 
cently been  greatly  increased  and  has 
led  to  a  strike  on  the  part  of  some  of  the 
drivers. 

Having  safely  located  my  trnnk  in  my 
room,  we  stopped  for  a  moment  to  rest 
and  think  how  hot  it  was,  then  we  set 
ont  for  an  introductory  peep  at  the  Ex- 
position. The  tickets  of  admission  are 
not  sold  at  the  gates  as  at  Chicago,  bat 

were  all  bought  up  by  the  Credit  Lyon- 
nais  and  other  speculators.  The  Credit 
Lyonnais  has  kiosks  near  most  of  the 
entrances,  and,  as  holders  of  the  bulk  of 
the  tickets, try  to  keep  the  price  up.  The 
tickets  are  also  on  sale  in  many  of  the 
shops  and  by  street  venders  all  over  the 
city.  The  nominal  price  of  the  ticket  is 
one  franc  (twenty  cents)  but  the  price 
has  fluctuated  from  day  to  day.  The 
average  I  found  to  be  thirty-five  cen- 
times (seven  cents),  though  one  day  the 
Credit  Lyonnais  sold  them  at  thirty 
and  the  street  venders  are  said  to  have 
sold  them  at  as  low  as  twenty  centimes. 
The  highest  price  I  paid  was  forty-five 
centimes.  From  10:00  A.  M.  to  6:00  P. 
M.  one  ticket  is  required  for  admission; 
at  other  hours  two  are  demanded,  and 
on  certain  special  occasions  four  are  re- 
quired. During  my  stay  in  Paris  the  hot 
weather  kept  the  number  of  daily  ad- 
missions, including  passes,  under  150,- 
000.  The  cooler  weather  increased 
^.he  number  to  175,000,  or  200,000. 
On  Sundays  the  number  is  about  400,- 
000  The  exposition  authorities  printed 
o7,000,000  tickets,  of  which  only  17,000,- 
000  were  used  during  the  first  half  of 
the  time  for  which  the  exposition  ia  to 
be  open.  This  fact,  with  the  renewed 
hot  weather,  is  tending  to  reduce  the 
price  of  tickets  still  further. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK.] 


OWEGO  TIMES. 

THURSDAY,   SEPTEMBER  20,  1900. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

(Continued.) 

Seven  o'clock  fonnd  us  back  at  our 
room  for  dinner.  Throughout  France 
this,  as  well  as  the  dejeuner,  is  served 
t<il >li'  d"  hote.  The  cooking  at  onr  pen- 
sion we  found  excellent,  and  the  menn 
good.  Several  kinds  of  meat  were  served, 
one  after  the  other,  each  with  its  side 
dish  of  potatoes,  beans,  lettuce,  salad, 
or  something  else.  As  nsnal  I  found  the 
ordinary  red  table  wine,  the  drink  reg- 
ularly served  both  at  dejeuner  and  din- 
ner, at  neither  of  which  tea  or  coffee  Is 
served.  I  discovered  that  others  at  the 
table,  who  had  been  long  enough  in  Pa- 
ris to  know,  were  drinking  the  water, 
so  I  indulged  with  boldness  and  impu- 
nity, and  had  ice  with  it.  Paris  water  is 
of  three  kinds,  all  of  them  Seine  water, 
but  differing  in  degree.  The  water  in  its 
natural  state  is  used  for  the  streets  and 
such  purposes.  For  household  purposes 
this  water  is  filtered  so  that  it  becomes 
tolerably  clear.  The  faucets  for  this  wa- 
ter bear  the  sign  '"non-potable."  Some 
of  this  filtered  water  is  subjected  to  cer 
tain  processes,  by  which  it  is  further 
purified  and  sterilized,  and  then  sup 
plied  for  drinking  purposes.  Ice  for  table 
use  is  also  supplied  with  like  care  under 
municipal  direction,  and  has  ceased  to 
be  the  luxury  which  it  once  was  in  Pa 
ria,  for  we  found  it  everywhere  in  com- 
mon use.  The  abundance  of  meats  on 
the  menu,  which  I  mentioned,  is  bal- 
anced by  the  omission  of  certain  dishes 
in  great  favor  with  us,  notably  pies, 
cakes  and  puddings.  Less  bread  and 
vegetables  are  supplied.  The  desserts 
consisted  of  cheese,  with  wafers,  and 
fresh  fruit  or  green  almonds. 

It  was  at  dinner  that  we  met  Monsieur 
and  Madame  and  the  other  boarders 


Monsienr  had  been  an  army  doctor,  and 
as  such  had  seen  service  in  Algeria  and 
Tnnis,  but  a  few  months  since  he  had 
been  retired  with  a  pension.  He  is 
about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  as  active 
and  talkative  as  the  Frenchman  he  is. 
Madame,  who  comes  from  the  sonth  of 
France,  is  a  rather  stout  woman,  with 
the  pleasant,  friendly  manners  which 
one  associates  with  Southern  France, 
bnt  also  with  mnch  of  the  quickness 
and  excitability  that  belong  to  the  name 
region.  Monsienr  and  Madame  talk 
nothing  bnt  French,  and  talk  that  all 
the  time,  so  that  although  all  the  board- 
ers are  English  or  Americans,  one  learns 
a  great  deal  of  French  in  spite  of  him- 
self. The  boarders  were  moat  of  them 
no  interest  tons, but  in  three  of  them,  of 
besides  the  friend  of  the  night  before, 
we  fonnd  Ithaca  friends,  a  mother  and 
two  daughters,  one  of  the  class  of  96 
and  the  other  of  the  class  of  99  Of  course 
we  had  a  lively  time  in  dispensing  to 
them  all  the  Ithaca  and  Cornell  news  of 
the  year  that  had  elapsed  since  they  had 
left  home.  They,  too,  had  news  for  ns 
of  other  sorts,  notably  that  another 
Cornell  friend  was  in  Paris,  bnt  would 
leave  the  next  day,  which  meant  a  call 
that  evening  So,  with  the  member  of 
the  class  of  '96.  we  set  out  to  cross  Pa- 
'ris  once  more.  Neither  of  ns  boasted  of 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  French,  or  of 
Paris,  but  we  were  not  dicconcerted  by 
that  fact.  We  entered  our  cab,  gave  the 
driver  the  address  and  started  off  mer- 
rily down  the  Boulevard  Saint  Michel, 
past  Notre  Dame,  the  Hotel  Dieu,  across 
the  Pont  d'  Arcole,  and  past  the  Hotel 
de  Ville.  Then  we  disappeared  into  a 
wilderness  of  narrow  streets,  where 
every  turn  seemed  to  me  to  be  in  the 
wrong  direction,  though  I  gave  the 
driver  the  credit  of  knowing  more 
about  Paris  than  I.  Suddenly  he  turned 
into  a  side  street,  narrower,  darker  and 
dirtier  than  the  others,  and  pulled  up 
to  the  curb  A  moment's  glance  assured 
me  that  the  driver  was  wrong  and  that 
my  instinct  had  been  right.  After  a 
little  arguing,  and  some  explanation  of 
the  localitv  where  our  address  was  situ- 


.     After    what 
•i    interminable    distance   we 

finally  landed   at  the   right  place 

nnbliishing  impudence  the  driver 

demanded   pay  lor  two  courses-  a  ijnes 

tion  which  we    settled    by    paying   one 

and  disappearing  into  the  house. 
;bby"  to  make  the  most 
of  the  situation.  Having  succeeded  in 
finding  onr  friend  and  talking  over  the 
old  times,  we  set  out  for  fresh  a 
tnres.  The  first  cabman  we  encountered 
demanded  donble  fare  for  driving  ns 
home—  which  gave  ns  a  chance  to  see 
that  he  had  had  too  many  "ponrboies" 
already,  or  at  least  had  had  the  drinks. 
The  next  cab  we  fonnd  we  climbed  in- 
to, thus  compelling  the  driver  to  take 
the  desired  address,  whvh  we 

•  -d  without  further  adventnv 
wi  h  a  hearty  'augh  over  the  oddity  of 
three  Cornell  Phi  P>eta  Kappa's  getting 
together  for  snch  a  lark  so  far  from 
their  own  hunting  grounds.  \Ve  were 
not  yet  satisfied,  for  we  craved  a  drink 
of  good  American  lemonade,  so  on  a 
venture  we  went  to  the  nearest  <. 
block  away— and.  by  asking  for  "citron- 
ade."  we  were  able,  to  onr  snrpr 
get  the  real  American  article  which  we 
desired.  Everywhere  in  Paris  the  cafes 
and  restaurants  have  their  tables  and 
chairs  in  the  open  air  in  the  best  situa- 
tion that  their  location  permits.  The 
regularly  served  indoors,  but 

drinks  and  light  refreshments  outside. 
One  especially  good  custom  is  in  vogue 
at  the  cafes,  that  of  serving  thir 

marked  with  the  price  of  the  arti- 
cle served  Thus  a  person  knows  61 

'".is  bill  is.   When  payment  is  made, 
one   i  if  t     >  plates   is    turned    over- 
payment required  in  this  case  was  sixty 
eemtimes  (twelve  eents^  a  glass. 

Thursday    we     had     considered     the 

\,-eedingly  warm,  bnt  we  were 

rted  with  t.ke  assurance  that,  three 

or  four  days  previous  to  onr  arrival,  the 

temperature   had    been  the  highest   re 

corded    since    ISSl.     Even    the  famous 

1SS1  record  was  broken  on  Friday,   the 

00th.  which    was  the  hottest  day  on    re 

cord  in  Paris,  the  temperature  being  :W 


degrees  centrigrade,  equivalent  to  102 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  Please  accept  my 
assurance  that  hotter  weather  is  unnec- 
essary. Notwithstanding  the  heat,  we 
boldly  visited  the  Exposition,  morning, 
afternoon  and  evening.  Having  experi- 
mented with  the  Parisian  cab-driver,  we 
decided  next  to  try  the  American  meth- 
od of  transportation— the  electric  street 
cars.  All  the  street  cars,  both  electric 
and  horse,  and  the  omnibuses  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Seine,  are  controlled 
by  one  company,  thus  permitting  trans- 
fer from  one  to  the  other  most  readily. 
All  these  various  lines  centre  at  the 
Gare  Montparnasse,  which  is  also  a  sta- 
tion for  the  inner  belt-line  railroad,  and 
for  several  suburban  railway  lines. 
These  street  cars  and  omnibuses  not 
only  cover  all  the  south  bank  of  the 
river  but  run  direct  to  the  most  im 
portanl  points  on  the  north  bank.  The 
electric  cars  are  entirely  new,  having 
been  installed  during  the  last  few 
months,  and  apparently  of  American 
manufacture,  for  they  are  fitted  with 
the  Thomson-Houston  fixtures.  The 
third  rail  system  is  the  one  in  use.  Each 
car  may  carry  thirty-eight  passengers 
besides  the  conductor  and  motorman, 
and  no  more  are  allowed  to  enter  the 
car.  At  the  terminals  and  the  principal 
stations,  for  the  cars  only  stop  at  cer- 
tain regular  stations,  there  are  little 
offices  where  nmni'mx  are  distributed. 
These  numeros  are  cards,  numbered 
from  one  to  one  thousand  in  Inrge  fig- 
ures, and  are  of  different  colored  card 
board,  according  to  the  routes.  The 
conductor,  or  an  official  on  duty  at  the 
station,  (-alls  off  the  numbers  in  order 
until  ench  place  in  the  car  is  taken, 
when  a  sign  marked  complcf  "full" 
is  hung  out.  Thus  one  must  await  his 
turn  but  he  does  so  with  the  assurance 
of  a  place  in  due  time  without  any 
crowding.  At  the  busy  hours,  it  is  usn- 
ually  a  difficult  thing  to  enter  a  car  at. 
an  intermediate  station,  where  nnmeros 
are  not  issued.  Passengers  are  not 
allowed  to  leave  the  car  except  at  the 
fixed  stations,  but  the  Parisian  is  learn- 
ing the  American  way  of  taking  his  own 


risks  and  dismounting  when  and  where 
he  likes.  He  may  also  monnt  the  car  at 
almost  any  place  where  it  has  not  its 
fnll  quota  of  passengers.  The  horse 
cars  and  omnibuses  are  disgraceful  old 
double-deckers,  which  carry  first  class 
passengers  inside  and  second  class  on 
top.  The  car  horses  are  harnessed  very 
lightly  with  bridle,  collar,  and  traces, 
but  the  omnibus  horses  have  a  heavy 
harness.  In  each  case  the  horses  are 
greatly  overworked.  The  Parisian  has 
not  yet  learned  to  make  repairs  quickly 
and  without  interrupting  traffic,  other- 
wise the  management  is  satisfactory. 
Passengers  almost  invariably  ride  sec- 
ond class,  and  only  go  first  class  when 
all  the  second  class  places  are  taken. 
The  transfers,  or  "correspondences"  as 
they  are  called,  are  collected  at  the 
janction  by  an  official  stationed  there 
for  that  purpose,  who  therefrom  issues 
the  car  ticket.  From  the  other  passen 
gers  the  money  fares  are  collected  by 
the  conductor  who  issues  the  car  ticket, 
which  is  kept  to  show,  on  demand,  as 
proof  that  the  fare  has  been  paid,  and  is 
destroyed  by  the  passenger  as  he  leaves 
the  car.  „ 

Our  only  other  experience,  outside 
the  Exposition  on  Friday,  was  a  visit  to 
the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  which  we  made 
on  our  way  to  the  Exposition  in  the 
afternoon.  The  tomb  is  located  in  the 
Hotel  des  Invalides,  directly  under  the 
vast  dome.  The  great  sarcophagus,  the 
crypt,  and  all  the  surroundings  are  sim 
pie, bat  in  the  most  exquisite  taste.  There 
is  nothing  that  offends.  Every  detail 
is  perfect.  Thoughts  of  human  great- 
ness and  of  human  weakness  crowd  in 
upon  one.  The  impressive  scene  is  one 
that  a  person  cannot  soon  forget.  Per- 
haps the  best  description  of  it  was  given 
by  the  German  woman  who  happened  to 
stand  next  to  me,  as  she  repeated,  "Das 
ist  schon,  das  ist  schon,  das  ist  schon." 
When  we  entered  the  dome,  I  had  re- 
marked to  my  friend  that  the  chances 
were  nine  out  of  ten  of  meeting  some 
one  we  knew  there,  and  so  we  did.  for 
we  found  there  the  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Eliot  Griffis,  of  Ithaca,  and  his  family. 


1  had  reason  for  some  days  to  remember 
this  visit,  fdr  it  tanght  me  a  lesson 
which  I  hope  to  profit  by  daring  the  re- 
mainder of  my  travels.  The  temperature 
of  the  chnrches  and  other  buildings  of 
the  sort  seems  seldom  to  rise  abpTe 
fifty  degrees,  and  the  air  is  damp.  Going 
from  the  intense  heat  outside,  into  the 
cool,  damp  bnildings,  was  too  great  a 
change,  and  the  minnte  I  got  outside  I 
felt  that  I  had  taken  cold— a  cold  which 
stayed  by  me  during  the  rest  of  my  visit 
in  Paris.  Friday  was  the  only  day  on 
which  we  visited  the  Exposition  in  the 
evening.  It  was  late  Friday  afternoon 
that  we  met  onr  next  Cornell  acquain- 
tance, one  of  my  own  classmates  who  is 
spending  the  snmmer  in  Europe. 

Saturday  we  spent  at  the  Art  bnild- 
ings of  the  Exposition.  In  the  evening 
we  sought  new  adventures  with  our 
friends,  the  cabmen.  This  time  our  par- 
ty was  four  in  number,  our  two  selves 
and  our  two  young  lady  friends.  We 
two  were  in  search  of  our  steamer 
friends,  they  two  wished  to  find  Ameri- 
can friends.  Onr  destinations  were  the 
same,  Grand  Hotel  Cecil,  Rue  Canlain- 
court,  To  the  uninitiated  this  would 
seem  an  easy  address  to  find,  but  it  was 
not  without  misgivings  that  we  started 
out.  I  alone  had  a  definite  idea  of  the 
part  of  Paris  the  place  was  in.  It  was 
some  four  miles  from  our  pension,  and 
in  the  section  of  Paris  known  as  Mont- 
marte  which,  by  the  way.  is  not  the 
fashionable  quarter  of  the  city.  Now, 
as  streets  go  in  Paris,  Rue  Caulaincourt 
is  a  long  street,  which,  in  its  turns,  does 
not  come  far  short  of  boxing  the  com- 
pass, and  we  did  not  know  the  number, 
nor  could  we  find  it,  for  the  hotel  was 
one  started  merely  to  accommodate  the 
patrons  of  the  Tourist  Company  at  the 
Exposition.  The  Tourist  Company  ad- 
vertised that  their  hotel  was  close  to  the 
Exposition  grounds,  and  it  so  happens 
that  there  is,  not  far  from  the  main  en- 
trance to  the  Exposition,  a  Hotel  Cecil, 
that  is  apparently  well  known,  but  the 
Grand  Hotel  Cecil  is  neither  near  the 
Exposition  nor  well  known,  as  our  ex- 
perience showed.  After  several  attempts 


to  get  a  cab,  we  at  last  fonnd  one  with 
the  proper  light,  and  got  the  driver 
headed  in  the  direction  of  Rne  Canlain- 
conrt,  though  he  insisted  that  we  had 
given  him  a  "bad  address."  After  about 
an  half  honr  we  had  entered  the  section 
of  Montmarte  and  there  the  driver  stop- 
pad  for  more  address.  His  selection  of  a 
stopping-place  was  happy  indeed— di- 
rectly in  front  of  the  Moulin  Ronge 
(the  Red  Mill)  a  famous  resort,  not  of 
the  better  class,  while  in  the  open,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  a  line  of 
Coney  Island  attractions  was  in  fnll 
blast.  We  applied  all  onr  knowledge 
and  all  onr  French  to  the  driver  with 
little  success.  Then  a  policeman  was 
hailed,  for  surely  he  would  know  the 
locality  in  which  he  was  stationed,  but 
he  was  seemingly  slightly  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  drink  popular  in  the 
neighborhood,  so  I  insisted  that  "cab- 
bie" should  drive  on  to  the  point  where 
I  knew  that  Rue  Caulaincourt  began, 
and  then  drive  through  the  street  till 
be  got  orders  to  stop.  This  method  in 
due  time  proved  effectual,  and  near  the 
farther  end  of  the  street,  and  a  half 
block  back  from  the  curb,  we  discovered 
the  object  of  pur  search.  But  our  trou 
ble  was  in  vain,  for  our  friends'  friends 
had  just  started  for  Rome,  and  ours  for 
the  opera  We  decided  that  our  trip 
must  not  be  utterly  wasted,  so  we  drove 
to  the  Cafe  de  la  Paix,  which  is  oppo- 
site the  Opera,  on  the  Avenue  del'  Opera 
and  one  of  the  best  known  in  Paris.  A 
shower,  which  had  just  begun,  added 
to  the  Saturday  night  crowd,  made  it 
difficult  to  find  places,  but  at  last  we 
succeeded  in  getting  a  table  and  the 
requisite  number  of  chairs  together  on 
the  sidewalk  under  the  awning.  We 
chose  the  characteristic  American 
things,  ico  cream  and  lemonade,  which, 
though  with  other  names,  were  jn»t  as 
good.  Here  we  spent  about  an  hour 
waiting  for  the  shower  to  pass,  and 
watching  the  street  scenes,  Oar  home- 
ward trip  was  without  incident. 

Sunday  found  us  two  very  weary 
boy?,  and  we  faithfully  obeyed  the 
scriptural  injunction  to  rest.  In  the 


evening,  we  went  in  search  of  an  Eng- 
lish Church  service,  and,  tncked  away 
in  a  little  side  street,  about  two  blocks 
distant,  we  discovered  St.  Lake's  Amer- 
ican chapel,  with  English  service.  The 
chapel  was  a  little  wooden  building, 
fitted  np  quite  as  crudely  as  it  was  pos- 
sible.  An  elderly  clergyman  read  the 
service,  and  in  spite  of  the  striking  con- 
trast between  the  poor  little  chapel  and 
the  magnificent  church  not  far  away, 
the  evening  hour  of  worship  was  to  me 
an  enjoyable  one.  After  this,  we  walkel 
across  to  the  north  side  of  the  river,  to 
a  hotel  in  the  Cite  du  Retiro,  where  we 
found  Professor  J.  W.  Jenks,  of  Cornell, 
who  is  studying  the  trust  problem  in 
Europe  in  behalf  of  a  government  com- 
mission. After  a  delightful  hour  we 
strolled  slowly  back,  stopping  on  the 
Pont  de  la  Concorde  to  watch  the 
crowds  and  to  admire  the  illumina- 
tions of  the  city  and  of  the  Exposition 
buildings  and  grounds  on  either  bank 
of  the  Seine  in  front  of  us.  Indeed,  this 
was  the  best  evening  view  of  the  Ex- 
position which  we  found,  and  the  one 
that  most  nearly  approached  the  never- 
to-be-forgotten  view  of  Chicago's  Court 
of  Honor  with  its  myriad  lights. 

Monday  the  heat  was  still  intense, and 
my  cold  had  reached  its  most  annoying 
phase,  yet  I  managed  to  spend  a  goad 
share  of  the  day  at  the  Exposition, visit 
ing  the  national  buildings.  In  the  New 
York  State  room  of  the  United  States 
building,  we  found  a  Cornell  graduate 
from  Binghamton  on  duty.  In  the  even 
ing  we  four  were  to  go  to  see  Sarah 
Bernhardt  in  L'Aiglon  (the  Eaglet) 
This  play  is  a  new  and  unpublishec1- 
one  by  Edward  Rostand,  the  author  oi 
Cyrano  de  Bergerac.  Sarah  plays  the 
part  of  Napoleon  II,  who  is  the  Eaglet 
and  the  central  figure  in  the  play.  The 
little  son  of  Napoleon  and  Maria  Louise, 
who  was  created  at  his  birth,  "King  of 
Rome,"  was  deprived  of  his  father  and 
forsaken  by  his  mother  when  but  four 
years  old.  The  rest  of  his  life  was  spent 
under  the  guardianship  of  his  grand- 
father, Francis  I  ,  Emperor  of  Austria, 
by  whom  be  was  created  Duke  of  Reich- 


stadt.  The  play  covers  the  years  when 
the  boy  was  becoming  the  man,  and 
cniminates  with  the  death  of  the  yonng 
prince  in  his  twenty-first  year  in  1832. 
The  play  has  taken  well  and  feems  to 
havo  been  a  success  for  both  the  dramat- 
ist and  the  actress.  As  Inck  wonld  have 
it,  my  cold  was  in  the  stage  where  any 
exertion  was  irksome,  and  one  of  onr 
yonng  lady  friends  was  even  more  un- 
fortunate than  I  from  a  similar  canse,po 
that  one  half  of  the  party  went  to  the 
hospital  while  the  other  half  went  to  the 
theatre  and  had  experiences  in  getting 
"rush  seats,"  and  in  other  ways,  of 
which  I  am  not  qualified  to  speak. 

Tuesday  morning  ray  cold  was  still 
on  top,  but  by  the  time  I  had  eaten  my 
dejeuner  I  felt  that  I  was  once  more 
master  of  the  situation,  and  started  out 
for  the  Exposition.  In  the  evening,  we 
two  again  visited  the  Grand  Hotel  Cecil 
The  trip  was  without  incident,  and  we 
succeeded  in  finding  our  friends  and 
passed  a  delightful  evening  with  them. 
Oar  homeward  trip  was  made  behind 
the  fastest  cab  horse  it  was  our  good  for- 
tune to  find  in  Paris.  Cabbie  thought 
we  were  strangers  and  might  be  worked 
successfully,  but  he  had  to  put  up  with 
the  regular  fare,  to  his  intense  and 
profane  disgust.  Wednesday  morning 
oar  Ithaca  friends  started  for  Switzer- 
land for  a  two  months'  visit,  and  we 
went  to  the  Gare  de  Lyoti  (Lyons  Sta- 
tion) to  wish  them  l>on  r<>j/>i</<>.  To  go 
upon  the  platform  to  see  a  friend  off,  or 
.to  meet  a  friend,  requires  a  ticket,  val- 
ued at  ten  centimes  (two  cents).  Thence 
we  took  a  boat  on  the  Seine  to  visit  the 
Exposition  annex  at  Vincennes.  Here 
we  saw  the  fortifications  of  the  city, 
which  consist  of  a  moat  and  earthworks, 
backed  by  a  wall  of  brick.  Running 
just  inside  this  line  of  fortifications,  all 
the  way  around  the  city,  is  a  great  boul- 
evard, the  sections  of  which  are  all 
named  in  honor  of  the  marshals  of  -Na- 
poleon. The  belt-line  railroad  also  runs 
just  inside  the  fortifications.  Wednes 
day  afternoon  found  us  back  at  the 
main  part  of  the  Exposition.  The  even 
ing  was  spent  in  studying  guide  books 


and  timetables.  Thursday  was  to  be 
onr  last  day  at  the  Exposition,  and  was, 
perforce,  a  fnll  one,  for  in  it  we  wanted 
to  visit,  ai  least  hastily,  all  the  places 
which  we  had  not  yet  seen.  Onr  de- 
jeuner we  took  at  a  Dnval  restaurant  on 
the  grounds,  and  at  seven  in  the  even- 
ing we  called  our  visit  to  the  Exposition 
finished,  and  went  to  onr  pension  for 
our  dinner  and  our  packing.  This  lat- 
ter I  found  a  puzzling  job.  My  plans 
called  for  travel  until  the  close  of  the 
Exposition  Travelling  with  a  trunk  is 
a  nuisance  in  America.  In  Europe  it  is 
not  only  that,  but  also  an  expensive  lux- 
ury. So  I  had  to  condense  into  rny 
dress  suit  case  and  hand  satchel  every- 
thing I  should  want  until  the  middle  of 
November,  and  leave  the  rest  in  my 
trunk  in  Paris.  Friday  morning  we 
bade  monsieur  and  madame  an  re  coir, 
and,  at  9:15,  we  left  Paris  from  the 
Gare  du  Nord  (Northern  Station)  on  the 
Chemin  de  fer  de  TEst  (Eastern  Rail- 
road) for  Soissons,  were  beginneth  an- 
other tale. 

Thus  far  1  have  said  little  about  the 
Exposition,  and  of  our  impressions  of  it 
and  of  Paris      To  each  of  these  points  I 
will  come  in  turn  in  my  next  letter. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCH  KK 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER  22,  1900. 

Travels  in  Kurope  by  fie*  r«;e  M.  Duteher. 

MUNICH,  September  22,  1900. 
MY  DEAR  i-ui: 

It  was  with  feelings  of  expectation 
not  un mixed  with  dread  that  we  two 
started  oat  from  Paris  on  the  morning 
of  the  27th  of  Jnly  for  our  first  venture 
into  parts  where  English  is  practically 
an  unknown  quantity  and  where  every- 
thing wonld  be  strange  and  unfamiliar 
to  us  Our  expections  were  fully  real- 
ized, but,  fortunately,  our  dread  was 
not,  for  everything  went  nicely  and  we 
were  able  to  keep  a  cheerful  count  e 
nance  all  the  time. 

We  left  Paris  at  a  quarter  past  nine 
on  the  Eastern  railroad.  In  buying  our 
tickets  I  learned  two  lessons.  When 
arriving  at  a  station  it  is  wise  to  note 
just  where  the  ticket  office  is,  and  where 
your  train  will  leave,  so  that  you  may 
have  no  trouble,  if  when  you  leave  you 
you  should  happen  to  be  pressed  for 
time.  That  reminds  me  that  it  is  also 
vise  to  compare  your  watch  with  the 
railroad  time  for  you  will  find  that  the 
local  time,  even  that  indicated  by  the 
large  clocks  in  the  towers  of  churches 
and  other  buildings,  is  not  to  be  de- 
pended upon  and  may  cause  you  trouble. 
The  second  leseon  was  that  one  must  be 
far  more  careful  to  count  his  change  be- 
fore leaving  the  window  than  he  would 
in  America,  for  it  is  a  favorite  failing  of 
the  good  people  over  here  to  make  mis- 
takes in  change  that  are  not  in  your 
favor,  and  especially  so  if  you  are  in  a 
hurry.  As  I  learned  the  lesson  for  a  few 
cents  I  can  afford  to  pass  it  on.  In  order 
to  give  us  the  desired  amount  of  time 
in  Soissons  we  were  obliged  to  travel  sec- 
ond class  to  get  a  train  convenient  for 
us.  The  journey  of  sixty-five  miles  was 
a  delightful  one.  The  day  was  bright 
and  clear  and  the  rolling,  almost  level 
country  appeared  to  the  best  advantage, 
with  the  harvesters  just  beginning  their 


work.  One  may  ride  for  miles  without 
seeing  a  fence.  The  only  division  he 
tween  the  fields  is  a  little  ditch  for 
drainage  and  sometimes  there  is  not 
even  that.  A  reaping  machine  was  a 
rare  sight,  and  not  even  the  cradle  was 
in  common  use,  bnt  either  a  scythe  or  a 
sickle.  The  women  worked  along  with 
the  men,  and  often  alone.  As  nearly  as  I 
could  judge, the  chief  crop  was  wheat.  Of 
Indian  corn  there  was  none.  We  reached 
Soissons  at  10:38,  which  is  far  better 
time  than  the  average  trains  overheie 
make,  for  we  were  on  a  through  express. 
Having  left  our  luggage  in  the  parcel 
room,  we  started  out  to  "do"  our  first 
French  provincial  town,  which  will  al 
ways  be  remembered  by  us  as  the  place 
where  we  learned  how. 

Soissons  is  a  city  of  over'twelve  thous- 
and inhabitants,  but  like  all  the  Euro- 
pean places  that  I  have  seen  it  is  very 
compact,  for  it  covers  about  as  much 
ground  as  the  part  of  Owego  bounded 
by  the  river  and  the  Erie  and  Lacka- 
awanna  tracks.  The  town  and  its  en- 
virons have  been  the  scene  of  sieges  and 
battles  from  Caesar's  gallic  wars  to  the 
Franco  Prussian  war,  the  most  famous 
occasion  being  the  victory  of  Clovis  over 
the  Romans  in  486.  It  was  under  the 
successors  of  Clovis  that  Soissons  saw 
its  palmiest  days.  The  town  is  situated 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  little  river  Aisne, 
which  has  been  converted  into  a  canal. 
On  the  right  bank  are  the  two  suburbs 
of  St.  Vaast  and  St.  Medard.  The  rail- 
railroad  station  is  about  a  half-mile 
from  the  town  and  is  approached  by  a 
beautiful  wide  street,  lined  with  rows 
of  trees. 

Just  as  we  reached  the  town  a  little 
sunshower  drove  us  onto  a  hotel  porch 
for  refuge  for  a  few  moments.  The  first 
object  of  interest  was  near  by,  and  we 
soon  ventured  out  in  search  of  it.  The 
Abbey  of  Saint  Jean-des-Vignes,  in 
which  Thomas  Becket  spent  nine  years, 
is  now  an  utter  ruin.  A  bit  of  the  clois- 
ters remain  and  the  front  of  the  church 
with  a  fine  portal  and  handsome  towers 
is  still  well  preserved.  This  was  our 
first  view  and  we  inspected  it  thorough- 


ly  from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  which 
we  reached  by  means  of  the  ancient 
stone  steps,  The  parts  of  the  chnrch 
which  remain  are  three  or  four  hundred 
years  old.  As  I  have  said  we  were  be- 
ginners, and  like  all  beginners  were 
slow,  so  by  the  time  we  had  finished  the 
abbey  we  were  ready  to  think  abont 
something  to  eat.  We  were  not  yet 
worldly  wise  enough  to  go  to  a  restau- 
rant for  our  dejenner,  so  we  went  to  the 
Hotel  of  the  Cross  of  Gold,  the  regular 
table  d'hote.  It  was  a  modest  hotel  and 
we  congratulated  ourselves  that  we 
were  able  to  fare  well  for  a  considerable 
less  than  we  had  at  Cherbourg.  Of 
course  the  name  of  the  house  turned  our 
thoughts  toMr.  Bryan  and  by  certain  pro- 
cesses to  things  American.  One  article 
on  the  menu  deserves  mention  Haricot 
beans,  which  are  not  unlike  our  string 
beans,  or  butter  beans,  are  grown 
in  large  quantities  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Soiesons  and  are  a  favorite  dish  not 
only  there  but  in  Paris  and  the  neigh- 
boring towns. 

In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  large  job 
on  our  hands,  our  first  visit  to  a  cathe- 
dral, and  we  took  it  quite  seriously.  The 
building  was  erected  about  six  hundred 
years  ago  and  is  a  neat,  modest  struc- 
ture with  a  pretty  interior.  The  front 
has  three  portals,  a  splendid  rose-win- 
dow and  a  tower.  In  the  interior  there 
was  the  stained  glass,  some  tapestries 
and  paintings  and  some  old  tombs  to  in- 
terest us.  The  building  is  not  seated 
with  benches  but  with  chairs  which  are 
moved  about  at  will.  Besides  the  ruined 
abbey  and  the  cathedral  there  is  little 
else  in  the  place  to  see,  and  we  spent  the 
remainder  of  our  time  walking  about 
and  looking  at  the  few  other  old  build- 
ings and  at  the  houses,  shops  and  pep 
pie.  Thus  we  finished  our  first  town  in 
seven  hours,  now  we  would  find  half 
that  time  an  abundance,  for  we  have 
learned  how.  One  interesting  thing  I 
noticed  was  that  the  stone  in  general 
use  as  a  building  material  is  very  soft, 
and  is  cut  into  blocks  of  the  desired  size 
and  shapes  with  a  cross-cut  saw.  We 
left  Soissons  at  5:50,  going  third  class 


on  a  slow  train.  A  journey  of  thirty-five 
miles  up  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  and  of 
its  tributary  the  Vesle  brought  ns  to 
Reims  at  half-nast  seven. 

Reims  (it  spells  itself  without  an  h) 
and  pronounces  itself  "rans")  is  a  city 
of  a  little  more  that  100,000  inhabitants 
and  is  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
little  stream  called  Vesle  Like  Soissons 
Reims  heard  of  Caesar's  gallic  wars  and 
dates  its  prosperity  from  the  years  that 
marked  the  end  of  Roman  rule  in 
France.  It  was  here  on  Christmas  day 
496  that  Clovis  was  baptised  by  St. 
Remigius  the  bishop  of  Reims.  Much 
of  the  interest  that  attaches  to  the  place 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  for  six  hundred 
years  the  kings  of  France,  with  a  single 
exception,  were  crowned  in  this  city, 
Reims  also  plays  a  prominent  part  in 
the  story  of  "Joan  of  Arc."  To  Reims 
she  escorted  Charles  the  seventh 
for  his  coronation,  and  Joan's  parents 
were  present  to  witness  their  daughter's 
triumph  and  were  entertained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  city  in  a  little  inn  near  the 
cathedral,  an  event  commemorated  by  a 
tablet  on  the  wall  of  the  hotel  which  oc- 
cupies the  site  of  the  old  inn.  In  mem- 
ory of  Joan  herself,  there  stands  in  the 
square  in  front  of  the  Cathedral  an 
equestrian  statue.  Reims  has  been  and 
still  is  one  of  the  strongholds  of  the 
j  catholic  church  in  France,  and  here 
I  they  established  their  English  seminary 
which  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Cath- 
olic enemies  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

We  stopped  at  the  Hotel  de  1'Europe, 
an  oH,  unpretending  place,  chiefly  pat- 
ronized by  the  commercial  travellers 
It  amused  us  not  a  little  to  find  the 
p'a:e  entirely  clo  ed  up  and  everybody 
down  to  the  porter  and  the  bellboy  gone 
to  bed  by  eleven  o'clock.  This  first  night 
in  a  European  hotel  was  without  special 
interest  to  myjfriend,  but  to  me  it  was 
qnite  too  interesting?  The  bedstead  was 
a  heavy  wooden  one,  very  broad  in  pro- 
portion to  its  length,  and  so  high  that 
one  could  not  sit  on  it  to  unlace  his  shoes, 
but  was  even  forced  to  meditate  on  the 
necessity  of  calling  for  a  ladder  as  a  use- 
ful aid  in  crawling  in.  The  head  of  the 
bed  was  raised  to  an  extraordinary 


height  by  means  of  a  bolster  and  two 
pillows— a  height  which  I  promptly  di- 
minished, by  two  thirds.  The  covering 
consisted  of  a  sheet,  a  flannel  blanket 
and  another  affair  consisting  of  a  case 
filled  with  soft  stuff,  perhaps  feath- 
ers, aronml  which  was  laced  an  on  tar 
case.  The  whole  affair  is  nnliko  either  a 
pillow,  a  bedtick  or  a  comfortable,  and 
yet  it  has  points  of  resemblance  to  each. 
This  I  also  removed,  being  forewarned 
that  it  was  inhabited.  With  even  this 
precaution  I  did  not  escape  molestation 
from  the  permanent  population  which  I 
concluded  was  large.  Their  family 
name  is  flea,  but  you  can't  escape  from 
them  in  Europe.  You  see  them  every- 
where and  what  is  worse  you  feel  them 
all  too  frequently.  Fleas  are  almost  as 
convenient  a  subject  of  conversation  as 
the  weather  with  tourists.  There,  so 
mnch  was  necessary.  I  shall  try  not  to 
allnde  to  the  subject  again,  as  but  once 
since  have  I  found  them  obnoxiously 
familiar.  The  description  of  the  bed  it- 
self will  apply  with  very  slight  amend- 
ment to  all  that  I  have  since  found.  My 
woes,  however,  were  not  ended.  The 
religious  fervor  of  the  city  is  manifested 
by  the  number  of  its  bells  and  the  vigor 
with  which  they  are  rung,  especially  at 
fl*x  in  the  morning,  greatly  to  the  an 
noyance  of  the  more  intelligent  who  de- 
sire to  slumber  nnti^£ight. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK  ] 

O IV EGO  TIMES. 

THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER  29,  1900. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

[Continued  ] 

Saturday  morning  we  took  the  short- 
est route  to  the  cathedral,  which  we 
had  already  searched  out  the  evening 
before.  The  cathedral,  which  is  dedicat- 
fld  to  the  Virein-Marv.  dates  from  the 


beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  and 
was  considerably  more  than  a  century 
in  building.  It  suffered  from  a  fire  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  which 
destroyed  seven  of  the  eight  spires,  none 
of  which  have  been  replaced,  though 
one  of  the  towers  was  neatly  finished 
off  without  a  spire,  long  ago,  and  the 
other  one  is  only  now  being  repaired  to 
correspond.  The  west  facade,  or  front  of 
the  cathedral,  is  spoken  of  by  one  au- 
thority on  architecture  as  "perhaps  the 
most  beautiful  structure  produced  in 
the  middle  ages."  It  consists  of  three 
magnificent  doorways  adorned  with 
more  than  five  hundred  statues,  above 
each  portal  a  large  window,  the  beauti- 
ful rose- window  in  the  centre  being  for- 
ty feet  in  diameter;  on  each  corner 
rises  a  massive  square  tower  over  250 
feet  in  height.  Besides  the  statues 
adorning  the  portals  there  is  a  large 
number  on  the  upper  portions  of  the 
facade.  Biblical  scenes  and  characters, 
saints  and  kings  of  France,  are  repre- 
sented by  these  numerous  statues.  On 
the  north  side  of  the  building  there  is 
also  a  handsomely  decorated  portal. 
Compared  with  the  splendid  exterior 
the  interior  is  plain,  besides  being  damp 
and  dreary;  though  it  contains  much  of 
interest  in  the  way  of  statues,  pictures, 
tapestries  and  stained  glass,  which  we 
spent  some  time  in  examining.  Our  wie- 
dcm  and  laziness  had  not  yet  reached 
that  state  where  we  disdained  a  visit  to 
the  loftier  portions  of  the  building,  so 
we  bought  our  tickets  and  began  our 
upward  way.  I  might  add  that  every 
church  tower  over  here  may  be  ascend- 
ed if  you  will  pay  for  it.  In  all  the  more 
important  churches  tickets  are  sold  and 
the  receipts  form  a  portion  of  the  reve- 
nues of  the  church:  in  others  the  sexton 
appropriates  such  fees  as  yon  are  willing 
to  give.  The  amount  demanded  usually 
amounts  to  about  ten  cents.  Part  way 
up  the  tower,  a  loud-voiced,  voluble 
youth  attached  himself  to  us  and  took  us 
out  into  the  galleries  that  lead  around 
the  roof,  where  he  expatiated  upon  the 
cathedral  and  tl  °>  landscape  while"  we 
listened  appreciatively  and  unintelli- 
gently.  Then  we  completed  the  ascent 


of  the  tower,  stopping  on  the  way  to 
look  at  the  great  bells,  which  are  showed 
with  pride  because  they  escaped  daring 
I  the  French  revolution,  when  all  bells 
were  ordered  to  be  melted  down  and 
aaed  as  gun  metal.  When  we  descend- 
ed we  were  shown  over  the  vaulting  of 
the  chnrch  and  had  the  novel  experience 
of  telephoning  by  stone.  My  friend  and 
I  stood  at  distant  points  and  by  talking 
to  the  stone  and  putting  onr  ears  to  it 
to  hear,  we  were  enabled  to  carry  on  a 
conversation  as  if  by  telephone.  Oar 
view  of  the  wost  facade,  as  I  have  al- 
ready implied,  was  somewhat  spoiled 
becaase  one  of  the  side  portals  and  the 
tower  above  it  were  completely  covered 
with  scaffolding  for  the  repairs  and 
restorations  which  were  in  progress  and 
the  finishing  of  the  sainmit  to  corre- 
spond with  the  other.  Almost  every 
Catholic  charch  which  we  have  visited 
has  near  the  entrance  a  collection  box, 
marked,  "For  the  restoration  of  the 
charch"  ,and  freqaently  one  finds  the 
restoration  in  progress,  as  we  did  at 
Soissons  and  Reims.  Adjoining  the 
cathedral  is  the  archbishop's  palace 
which  contains  some  interesting  apart- 
ments ased  by  the  kings  at  their  coro- 
nations. 

On  oar  way  from  the  cathedral  to 
oar  hotel  we  passed  throagh  the  market 
place.  It  is  a  never  ceasing  object  of 
interest  for  me  to  watch  those  market 
places.  The  market  women  come  in 
with  their  baskets  or  little  cart  filled 
with  frait,  vegetables,  flowers  and  oth- 
er things  which  they  display  for  sale  in 
the  market  place.  The  hoase  wives  and 
hoase  maids  come  with  their  little  hand- 
baskets  and  select  what  they  desire. 
The  market  place,  is  very  apt  to  be  in 
the  centre  of  the  town,  so  that  there  is 
the  regnlar  stream  of  basiness  to  add  to 
the  carious  medley  and  conf  asion.  Here 
one  can  see  to  excellent  advantage  one 
side  of  the  life,  character  and  castoms 
of  the  people.  .However  we  coald  not 
linger  this  time,  for  it  was  time  for  oar 
dejeuner  and  we  were  folly  aware  of  it. 
Aa  in  Paris,  the  petit  dejeuner,  which  is 
served  as  soon  as  yoa  get  ap  in  the 
mornine.consists  of  coffee,  tea  or  choco- 


late  and  rolls.  The  dejeuner,  served 
abont  noon,  and  the  dinner,  served  at 
abont  half-past  seven,  are  table  d'hote, 
and  the  landlord  expects  yon  to  be  pre- 
sent. This  makes  traveling  in  the  pro- 
vinces of  France  rather  expensive,  as 
the  price  for  each  meal  rnns  from  two 
francs  and  a  half  (50  cents)  to  five  francs 
(one  dollar).  Good  rooms  cost  from  two 
to  three  francs,  while  the  best  may  be 
had  for  fonr  or  five  francs.  The  petit 
dejeurner  usually  costs  one  franc.  Ta- 
ble d'hote  is  handy  for  those  who  can't 
read  the  menu,  and  is  enjoyable  for 
those  who  are  trying  to  live  a  long  and 
idle  life,  bat  for  the  nervous,  active 
American  it  is  generally  a  sore  trial  to 
the  patience,  especially  if  he  is  thinking 
of  taking  a  train.  Furthermore  it  is  a 
wasteful  and  expensive  thing  both  for 
the  host  and  the  guest,  as  it  demands 
the  serving  of  a  great  variety  of  things 
to  each  of  which  the  guest  feels  bound 
to  help  himself  liberally  in  order  to  get 
his  money's  worth,  while  for  the  sake  of 
his  digestion  he  feels  bound  to  leave  a 
good  share  of  it  on  the  plate  untouched. 
The  cuisine  and  service  are  quite  good, 
and  the  greatest  objection  the  foreigner 
finds  is  to  the  large  proportion  of  meat 
and  the  small  proportion  of  vegetables, 
puddings,  cakes  and  similar  things  of 
the  milder  sort.  Wine  is  regularly 
served  with  the  meals  and  is  usually 
mixed  with  water  when  drank.  I 
thrived  on  Vichy  Etat  which,  in  warm 
weather,  becomes  an  expensive  luxury 
unless  one  can  persuade  himself  to  go 
thirsty. 

In  the  afternoon  we  started  out  to  do 
the  remaining  sights  of  the  town  which 
are  fairly  numerous  but  without  very 
great  interest  except  in  the  case  of  the 
church  of  St.  Remi  or  Remigius  In  the 
outskirts  of  the  city  to  the  south.  As  it 
now  stands  the  church  represents  the 
work  of  several  different  centuries  with 
their  respective  styles  of  architecture, 
the  oldest  parts  dating  from  the  eleventh 
century.  Everything  about  the  church 
is  old  and  interesting — even  the  atmos- 
phere has  a  distinct  flavor  of  antiquity. 
The  chief  thing  to  attract  the  visitor  is 
the  tomb  of  St.  Remi,  although  it  has 


been  restored  several  times,  the  present 
tomb  having  been  costructed  in  1847. The 
chnreh  has  become  the  parish  church  of 
the  pco-est  part  of  the  city,  and  a  visit 
to  it  takes  one  through  a  quarter  of  the 
town  that  savors  of  the  last  century  if 
not  of  an  earlier  one.  Reims  possesses 
one  excellent  monument  of  the  Roman 
period— a  triumphal  arch  known  as  the 
"Gate  of  Mars."  Fifteen  hundred  years 
have  worked  far  less  destruction  than 
one  would  have  supposed,  for  the  arch 
as  a  whole  is  well  preserved  and  some 
of  the  ornamental  details  are  still  in  ex- 
cellent condition.  This  relic  of  the  an 
cient  time  stands  at  one  end  of  the  pret- 
ty public  park  and  promenade,  in  the 
centre  of  which  is  a  statue  of  Colbert, 
the  famous  minister  of  Louis  XIV.,  who 
was  a  native  of  Reims.  Another  native 
of  the  city  is  commemorated  by  a  statue 
in  a  neighboring  street.  He  is  Drouet 
d'  Erlon,  one  of  Napoleon's  generals, 
who,  through  no  fault  of  his  own, 
played  a  somehat  ludicrous  part  in  the 
battle  of  Waterloo.  There  are  several 
large  public  buildings,  the  most  import- 
ant of  which  is  the  town  hall  erected  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  which  con- 
tains, besides  the  offices  of  the  city  offi- 
cials, the  city  museum  and  library.  I 
visited  the  library  with  much  interest, 
I  both  because  it  was  my  first  sight  of  a 
large  library  in  Europe  and  because  of 
the  interesting  and  curious  old  books 
and  manuscripts. 

Saturday  evening  1  spent  in  the  hotel 
doing  some  writing  while  my  friend 
strolled  out  and  wondered  why  it  was 
so  hot.  I  was  greatly  amused  by  a  trav- 
elling man  who  came  in  late  to  dinner 
and  sat  at  one  end  of  the  dining  room 
which  had  no  other  occupants  except 
the  proprietor  and  his  family  who  were 
at  the  other  end  of  the  room.  The  lat- 
ter for  about  an  hour  were  entertained 
by  the  conversation  of  the  commercial 
traveller  who  discoursed  continuously 
in  a  loud,  thick,  almost  unintelligible 
voice— the  sonorous  quality  of  which 
will  always  form  a  part  of  my  memories 
of  Reims. 

Sunday  morning  the    music  of  the  I 
bells  far  outdid  that  of  the  previous 


;  morning  so  that  even  the  most  inveter- 
ate sleeper  might  not  have  the  excuse 
that  he  did  not  wake  np  in  time  to  go 
to  church.  We  went  at  10  o'clock  to  ser- 
vice in  the  cathedral  where  we  heard  a 
brilliant  young  priest,in  a  sermon, defend 
the  Catholic  church  against  the  charge 
that  it  was  still  a  mediaeval  institution 
and  not  up  to  the  times.  The  pulpit,  as 
is  almost  invariably  the  case  over  here, 
is  a  sort  of  canopy  built  against  one  of 
the  pillars  near  the  center  of  the  church, 
and  high  above  the  heads  of  the  congre- 
gregation.  A  flight  of  steps  leads  to  the 
pulpit,  and  frequently  both  the  pulpit 
and  the  staircase  are  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  the  wood  carver's  art.  One 
curious  custom  which  I  have  failed  to 
notice  elsewhere,  was  that  one  of  the 
attaches  of  the  cathedral  made  a  tour 
of  the  congregation  and  collected  five 
centime*)  (one  cent)  from  each  person 
for  his  chair.  Then  the  regular  collec- 
tion was  taken  by  dignified  brethren  in 
the  proper  fashion.  Following  them 
went  altar  boys  carrying  tin  cans  with 

a  slot  in  the  top.  These  cans  they  shook 
in  a  peculiar  manner  so  as  to  jingle  the 
coins  IE  side,  before  every  person,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "help  along  the  jingle." 
This  was  the  method  of  talking  the  be- 
nevolent collection.  At  every  church  I 
have  visited  in  France,  or  in  places 
where  French  influences  prevail,  I 
have  found  about  the  doorway  beggars, 
some  of  them  apparently  able  to  earn  a 
living,  others  afflicted  or  helpless 
from  one  reason  or  another,  and  some 
of  them  quite  repulsive  in  their 
appearance.  Against  all  such  I  have 
hardened  my  heart,  for  it  seems  that, 
between  church  and  state,  all  such 
cases  which  are  really  deserving,  ought 
to  be  properly  cared  for.  If  one  begins 
giving  alms,  there  is  no  end  to  it. 

Sunday  afternoon  we  started  out  to 
find  an  English  church  service.  The 
place  where  such  services  were  an- 
nounced to  be  held  we  found  closed,  so 
we  walked  abont  for  a  time  and  then 
went  to  another  place  at  the  hour  an- 
nounced. This  time  we  found  the  chapel 
open  and  service  in  progress,  but  to 


oar  amazement  we  discovered  they  were 
sieging  the  closing  hymn.  This  little 
chapel  in  which  English  Congregational 
services  are  held  is  maintained  by  an 
English  firm,  which  owns  a  large  plant 
at  Reims,  for  combing  and  washing 
wools,  for  the  little  colony  of  English 
workmen  whom-  they  employ.  Sunday 
evening  I  was  again  treated  to  a  per- 
formance by  the  man  with  the  large 
voice.  After  he  had  subsided  I  conclud- 
ed it  was  time  to  go  to  bed. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK.] 


OWEGO  TIMES. 

THURSDAY,  DECEMBER  6,  1900. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Dutclier  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting: Letter. 

[Continued  ] 

Monday  was  a  busy  day  for  us.  We 
left  Reims  at  a  quarter  past  ten,  and, 
after  a  ride  of  two  hours,  reached  Sedan, 
abont  65  miles  distant.  The  trip  did 
not  involve  any  different  scenery  from 
that  already  passed  on  our  way  from 
Paris.  The  road  crosses  the  divide  be 
tween  the  Vesle  and  the  Aisne,  and  near 
Rethel  the  Aisne  itself  is  crossed 
and  then  the  road  enters  the  wooded, 
somewhat  hilly  region  of  the  Ardennes 
and  crosses  another  divide  to  the  valley 
of  the  Meuse  and  follows  the  river  for 
a  few  miles.  Jost  before  reaching  Se- 
dan we  saw  our  first  European  rain. 
After  a  not  very  sumptuous  repast  at 
the  Golden  Lion,  we  started  out  in  spite 
of  the  frowns  of  the  weather,  for 
Bazeilles,  a  little  hamlet  three  miles 
np  the  river,  where  a  bridge  and  a 
rise  of  ground  were  the  scene  of  the 
fiercest  part  of  the  famous  battle  of 
September,  1870.  The  little  town  was 
completely  destroyed  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  small  inn  on  the  outskirts 
which  was  the  last  point  held  by  the 
French.  This  building  is  now  known 
as  the  Last  Cartridge.  In  the  cemetery 


near  by  is  a,  large  tomb  containing  the  I 
hones  of  tvro  thousand  of  the  "unknown 
dead."  All  that  one  can  do  by  a  visit 
to  the  battle  tield  is  to  get  a  notion  of 
the  lay  of  the  land  and  the  successive 
positions  held  by  the  two  armies.  The 
battle  of  September,  1870,  was  not  the 
greatest  of  the  war  but  it  has  become 
the  bpst  known  because  a  series  of  mis- 
takes on  the  part  of  the  French  forced 
Einporer  Napoleon  III  to  surrender 
himself  and  an  army  of  nearly  90,000 
men  on  the  day  following.  The  surren- 
der took  place  at  the  Chateau  de  Belle- 
vue  about  two  miles  below  Sedan  From 
B^zeilles  we  returned  to  Sedan  by  elec- 
tric car.  The  city  contains  few  build 
ings  that  date  back  of  1870,  the  fortifi 
tions  have  been  removed,  and  the  place 
i-i  nicely  laid  out  and  has  many  fine  | 
modern  housea.  The  only  relic  of  the 
ancient  times  is  the  ruins  of  the  old  cas- 
tle. Of  course  the  city  has  a  monument 
to  its  favorite  son,  who  was  Marshal 
Turenne.  Sedan  also  has  a  college.  The 
population  is  about  20.000  and  they  mahe 
as  little  stir  about  it  as  possible. 

Sedan  we  left  at  half  past  four  to  go 
to  Dinant.  As  we  two  were  alone  in  the 
compartment  we  piled  our  luggage  on 
the  seat  for  there  was  no  rack,  as  is 
customary,  to  place  it  in.  This  led  to 
interesting  developments.  At  Charle- 
vllle  others  entered  the  compartment 
and  finally  a  party  of  men  who  raised 
the  number  to  the  lawful  ten.  I  offered 
to  remove  the  luggage  to  accommodate 
them,  but  one  of  them  piled  on  some  of 
his  and  said  that  it  was  all  right  as  it 
was  The  train  had  hardly  got  in  mo- 
tion when  one  of  the  party,  a  young 
fellow  of  twenty-five  or  thirty,  who  gat 
opposite  the  luggage  began  to  look  at  it 
in  an  annoyed  manner  and  finally  be- 
gan to  examine  the  tags.  Though  there 
was  nothing  to  help  him  to  form  the 
opinion,  he  announced  to  the  rest  of  the 
party  that  we  were  English.  My  friend 
did  not  understand  any  of  the  proceed- 
ings and  occupied  himself  with  the 
(scenery.  I  apparently  did  the  same  but 
kept  a  weather  eye  and  ear  out  for  de- 
velopments which  our  slightly  intoxi- 
cated fellow-traveller  thought  should 


follow  rapidly.  Divisions  and  army 
corps  could  not  be  landed  in  England 
any  too  soon  to  Fuit  him.  This  precipi- 
tated a  vigorous  if  not  altogether  learn- 
ed discussion  of  the  relations  between 
France  and  England.  I  chuckled  in- 
wardly when  one  quiet  old  fellow  ven- 
tured to  remark  that  once  upon  a  time 
a  battle  of  Trafalgar  somewhat  inter 
I  fered  with  landing  French  army  corps 
I  in  England.  This  turned  the  tide  and, 
i  after  prolonged  arguments  by  the  con- 
servative members  of  the  party,  the 
hot-headed  youth  decided  to  wait  till 
another  day.  In  this  car,  as  is  frequent- 
ly the  case,  the  partition  between  the 
apartments  only  extends  a  little  higher 
than  the  back  of  the  seat,  and  at  one  of 
the  stations  one  of  two  French  soldiers 
in  the  next  compartment  who  had  been 
listening  to  the  discussion,  surprised 
me  by  leaning  over  and  opening  conver- 
sation with  me  in  English.  He  told  me 
that  he  had  worked  several  years  in 
London  and  wished  he  was  back  there. 
Later  when  we  changed  cars  at  Givet, 
our  troublesome  friend  came  around  to 
chat  with  us  in  a  pleasant  manner  and 
chose  the  same  compartment  From  Gi- 
vet on  the  French  side  of  the  line  to 
Hastiere  on  the  Belgian  side,  a  distance 
of  seven  miles,  a  train  of  the  huckle- 
berry sort  runs,  and  to  this  day  I  re 
member  it  as  the  worst  experience  in 
European  travel.  At  a  little  station  just 
after  crossing  the  line,  the  Belgian  cus- 
toms officials  came  in  and  poked  their 
hands  into  our  baggage  and  asked  some 
unintellgent  questions,  to  all  of  which 
I  gave  a  prompt  and  decided  negative. 
The  procedure  lasted  less  than  a  minute 
and  caused  us  no  trouble,  so  we  voted 
the  Belgian  customs  officials  a  success. 
For  the  ten  miles  from  Hastiere  to 
Dinant  we  bad  a  somewhat  better  speci- 
men of  a  Belgian  train.  The  cars  are  the 
same  size  as  the  French,  though  like 
ours  with  a  passage  from  end  to  end 
and  with  entrance  at  the  end  instead  of 
the  side,  but  they  are  still  divided  into 
compartments  in  an  awkward  fashion. 
Another  American  feature  is  that  the 
conductor  goes  through  the  train  and 
collects  the  tickets.  The  scenery  all 


along  the  Meuse,  which  the  railroad  fol- 
lows closely  from  Sedan  to  Dinant,  is 
beautiful  and  one  can  enjoy  a  good  deal 
or  it  in  spite  ef  the  frequent  tnnnels.  It 
was  9  o'clock  when  we  reached  Dinant, 
a  town  of  abont  8,000  inhabitants  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Mense,  crowded  in 
between  the  river  and  the  rocks.  The 
station  is  at  St.  Medand  on  the  left 
bank.  Being  the  only  strangers  to  alight 
from  the  train  we  were  considered  fair 
prey  by  all  the  hotel  porters,  among 
whom  the  competition  seemed  quite 
fierce.  We  picked  ont  the  cheapest 
place  and  put  onr  baggage  in  charge  of 
the  porter.  Onr  choice  was  the  Family 
lloiel,  which  we  fonnd  nicely  located 
and  with  a  good  room,  though  the 
board  was  not  all  that  it  might  have 
been.  We  were  too  late  for  dinner  and 
had  to  pnt  np  with  a  cold  Innch,  after 
which  we  strolled  ont,  in  onr  usual 
fashion,  to  see  the  town  by  lamp  light. 
The  strains  of  music  led  nB  to  the  pnblic 
square  where  we  found  the  popnlace 
gathered  listening  to  a  very  good  or- 
chestra which  was  entertaining  them 
with  classical  mnsic.  Th«  neighboring 
restaurants  had  placed  chairs  and  tables 
ia  the  square  and  were  dispensing  wine 
and  beer  to  the  thirsty  lovers  of  mnsic. 
The  town  is  something  of  a  summer  re- 
sort, and  these  orchestral  concerts  and 
other  attractions  are  provided  regularly 
throughout  the  season  for  the  delecta- 
tion of  the  sojourners. 

Tuesday  morning  we  set  out  to  see 
whether  the  daylight  would  bear  out 
the  pleasant  impression  of  the  town 
which  we  had  formed  the  previous  even- 
ing. Onr  first  undertaking  was  to  climb 
to  the  old  citadel,  which  is  directly 
above  the  town,  on  the  top  of  a  high 
cliff.  It  is  reached  by  flights  of  steps 
from  the  public  square— or  as  it  tnrned 
out  to  be  in  the  morning — the  market 
place.  The  view  is  very  pretty  though 
not  very  extended.  The  old  citadel  is 
now  private  property  and  is  open  to  vis- 
itors for  a  fee  of  fifty  centimes  (10  cents) 
A  family  lives  in  some  of  the  rooms  and 
acts  as  guides  to  the  visitors.  Some  of 
the  rooms  contain  a  collection  of  old  ar- 
mor and  weapons.  Before  the  day  of 


long  range  gnus  the  citadel  mnst  have 
been  a  position  of  great  military  im- 
portance, for  it  easily  commanded  the 
town  and  the  river,  and  was  open  to 
attack  on  only  one  side.  From  the  cita- 
del we  walked  along  the  top  of  the  cliffs 
for  some  distance  and  then  descended 
throngh  the  garden  of  the  casino— a 
place  of  the  Monte  Carlo  sort.  Thence 
we  walked  up  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  to  Anseremme,  passing  the  tower- 
ing rock  known  as  the  Roche  a  Bayard, 
from  an  ancient  legend.  At  Anseremme 
the  little  river  Lesse  flows  into  the 
Meuse  and  a  railroad  bridge  spans  the 
Mense.  As  is  frequently  the  case  here, 
there  is  a  foot  way  across  the  railroad 
bridge  and  so  we  crossed  to  the  left  bank 
and  returned  to  Dinant  in  time  for  din- 
ner. The  only  building  in  Dinant  of  in- 

.  terest  to  tourists  is  the  old  church  situ- 
ated, in  the  market  place,  directly  un- 
der the  citadel.  It  has  a  pretty  interior 
and  a  peculiar  steeple.  The  typical  local 
product  is  the  Dinant  cake,  which  puz- 
zles the  eye  to  tell  whether  it  is  em- 

1  bossed  leather  or  gingerbread.  They 
are  baked  in  all  sorts  of  shapes  and 
stamped  with  patterns. 

After  a  hurried  dinner  we  took  the 
little  steamer  for  Namur.  At  dinner 
there  were  several  English  people  and, 
curiously  enough,  the  speakers  of  Eng- 
lish outnumbered  those  to  whom  French 
was  the  mother  tongue.  One  of  these 
Englishmen  was  also  on  the  boat  and  I 
carried  on  a  long  conversation  with 
him  in  the  course  of  which  I  startled 
him  by  assuring  him  that  Americans 

I  enjoyed  taking  ice  cream  and  hot  coffee 
i  together,  and  that  the  indulgence  did 
not  prove  fatal.  There  is  sufficient  fall 
in  the  twenty  miles  between  Dinant  and 
Namur  to  require  four  lock*,  the  pass- 
ing of  which  was  a  novel  experience  for 
me.  The  scenery  is  splendid  and  can  be 
on  joyed  to  the  utmost,  from  the  steam- 
er. We  reached  Namur  at  half-past  four 
and  took  the  steam  tram  cars  to  the 
railroad  station  where  we  left  our  lu«- 
eaee  and  then  started  out  on  the  cir- 
cnit  of  the  town.  The  city  of  30.000  in- 
habitants is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of 
t,be  Sambre  and  of  the  Meuse  at  their 


junction.  With  the  exception  of  the 
ring  of  boulevards  which  surrounds  the 
city  there  is  no  rhyme  nor  reason  in  the 
length  or  direction  or  width  of  the 
streets.  The  city  stands  on  ground  con- 
siderably above  the  two  rivers,  and  the 
hill  that  occupies  the  other  and  smaller 
angle  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
streams  is  crowned  by  the  citadel. 
The  situation  of  the  place  gives  it  a 
strategical  importance  which  has  fre- 
quently brought  it  into  history.  Sieges 
do  not  produce  old  buildings  eo  that 
there  is  little  to  interest  the  sight-seer. 
The  most  important  building  is  the 
cathedral  which  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  The  structure  is 
surmounted  by  a  dome.  The  interior  is 
beautiful  and  possesses  some  handsome 
decorations.  An  older  edifice  is  the 
church  of  St  Loup,  which  belongs  to  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeen  century.  A 
hole  in  the  ceiling  remains  as  a  mentnen- 
to  of  tho  siege  of  the  city  in  1692  by 
Louis  XIV.  None  of  the  churches  and 
public  buildings  possess  any  special  in- 
terest. 

There  are  two  or  three  statues,  one  to 
King  Leopold  the  First  While  walking 
down  the  promenade  along  the  Sambre 
I  became  aware  that  I  was  feeling  as 
though  I  were  in  Owego.  The  cause  of 
the  sensation  I  discovered  in  the  sound 
of  one  of  the  church  bells  which  was 
of  exactly  the  same  tone  as  that  of  the 
Owego  Methodist  church.  After  dinner 
at  a  hotel  near  the  station  we  left  at  8 
o'clock  for  Liege.  The  distance  i&a  lit- 
tle more  than  thirty  five  miles  and  took 
us  over  an  hour  and  a  half.  The  scenery 
is  beautiful  for  the  whole  distance  as 
the  railroad  still  follows  the  Meuse 
closely.  Coal  mines,  marble  quarries 
and  factories  are  passed  in  uninterrupt- 
ed succession.  Throughout  this  region 
the  mc^t  familiar  sight  is  that  of  the 
numerous  high  chimneys  of  the  facto 
rieti.  As  long  as  the  light  permitted  we 
enjoyed  the  scenery.  Then  we  were 
treated  to  bits  of  the  Inferno.  The  flames 
burstling  from  the  furnaces  which  we 
were  constantly  passing,  especially  as 
we  n eared  Lifge,  lighted  np  the  land- 
scape in  a  most  lurid  fashion. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK  ] 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  DECEMBER  13,  1900. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

[Continued  ] 

In  French  and  English,  Liege:  in 
Flemish,  Lnip;  in  German,  Lnttich  are 
the  three  ways  of  writing  the  name  of 
this  city.  The  older  part  of  the  city 
stretches  along  the  left  bank,  of  the 
Mense  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  and  in 
piaces  extends  up  the  slopes.  The  new- 
er part  is  on  the  right  bank  partly  on 
the  peninsula  formed  by  the  janc- 
tion  of  the  little  river  Oarthe  with  the 
Mease,  and  partly  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Orthe.  The  bnsy  manufacturing 
center  numbers  over  160,000  inhabitants. 
For  centuries  the  Prince  Bishop  of 
Liege  was  practically  the  independent 
ruler  of  the  city  and  the  snrronnding 
district.  The  French  Revolution  brought 
his  regime  to  an  end,  and  the  course  of 
events  during  the  succeeding  forty  years 
saw  the  former  principality  incorporat- 
ed in  the  kingdom  of  the  Belgians 

On  our  arrival  we  took  the  electric 
cars  to  the  Hotel  Douven  which  we  had 
picked  out  as  most  likely  to  suit  our 
means.  We  found  a  pleasant  room  and  a 
fair  table.  Then  we  started  out  to  look 
over  the  town  a  little,  and  to  see  if  we 
conld  discover  some  lemonade.  To  our 
delight  we  found  a  restaurant  where  we 
were  furnished  with  the  lemons,  sugar 
and  water,  and  thus  had  the  best  and 
cheapest  lemonade  that  we  had  found. 
In  the  quarter  in  which  our  wanderings 
led  us  there  were  several  brilliantly 
lighted,  handsomely  furnished  restau- 
rants and  cafes.  At  least  the  finest  of 
these  we  found  were  gambling  places. 
Nearly  all  of  Wednesday  we  spent  in 
seeing  the  sights  of  Liege,  which  in- 
clude the  Palais  de  Justice,  the  univer- 
sitv,  and  several  churches.  The  ancient 


cathedral  fell  a  victim  to  the  wrath  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  was  completely  removed  a  few 
years  later.  The  Episcopal  palace 
which  adjoined  it  has  been  converted 
into  the  Palais  de  Justice  or  Court 
House.  This  splendid  building  was 
erected  early  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
but  has  been  twice  restored.  The  most 
interesting  parts  of  the  building  are  the 
two  interior  courts  which  are  surround- 
ed with  arcades.  Not  far  away  is  the 
Theatre,  a  fine  building,  in  front  of 
which  stands  a  monument  to  Gretey. 
the  composer,  who  was  one  of  the  town's 
favorite  sons.  The  university  is  located 
chiofly  in  a  large,plain,  well-built  struc 
tnre  erected  during  the  past  decade 
The  institution  was  founded  in  1817 
and  is  now  under  state  control,  and  is 
most  important  for  its  scientific  and 
technical  departments. 

The  former  abbey  church  of  St.  Paul 
has  been,  since  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  the  cathedral  church.  A  part 
of  the  church  dates  from  the  thir- 
teenth century  though  most  of  it  be- 
longs to  a  later  period,  a  portion  to  the 
present  century.  The  interior  decora- 
tions belongs  almost  entirely  to  the 
nineteenth  century,  though  most  of  it 
belongs  to  a  later  period,  a  portion  to 
the  present  century.  The  interior  deco- 
rations belong  almost  entirely  to  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  pulpit  of 
carved  wood,  adorned  with  several  mar 
ble  statues,  is  very  fine.  Several  of  the 
other  churches,  like  St.  Paul's,  "were 
founded  in  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth 
century  but  the  present  buildings  in  no 
case  ante-date  the  twelfth  century. 
Each  of  them  is  interesting  but  an  enu- 
meration of  them  and  their  special 
points  is  useless.  The  festival  of  Cor- 
pus Christi  was  first  celebrated  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Martin  in  the  thirteenth 
century— an  event  commemorated  by  a 
series  of  marble  medallions  in  one  of  the 
side  chapels.  The  church  of  St.  Denis  con- 
tains a  beautifully  carved  altar  of  wood 
in  a  side  chapel.  The  only  other  thing 
of  special  interest  is  an  equestrian  stat- 
ue of  Charlemagne,  the  pedestal  of  i 


which  is  adorned  with  statues  of  his 
ancestors.  The  city  has  some  beautif  al 
parks  and  bonlevards.  On  one  of  the 
hills  back  of  the  town  is  the  citadel, 
which  can  be  reached  by  a  flight  of 
abont  four  hundred  steps  From  this 
point  a  good  view  of  the  city  and  its 
surroundings  can  be  obtained.  At  sev- 
enteen and  a  half  o'clock  we  bade  fare- 
well to  Liege  and  started  for  Maas 
tricht  by  boat  In  Belginm  the  hours  of 
day  are  officially  reckoned  from  one  to 
twenty-four,  but  popularly  in  the  usual 
fashion. 

The  distance  to  Maastricht  is  only 
twenty  miles,  but  it  took  us  four  hours 
and  a  half.  A  little  below  Leige  the 
Meuse  become  too  shallow  and  too  rapid 
for  navigation,  and  so  it  has  been  paral- 
leled by  a  canal  with  several  locks.  The 
little  steamer  seldom  ventured  to  try  a 
speed  of  six  miles  an  hour.  The  view 
embraced  the  two  banks,  each  with 
their  row  of  trees,  and  an  occasional 
glimpse  of  hills  in  the  distance.  The 
more  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Meuse  it- 
self we  missed.  Here  once  more  my 
good  spirits  stood  me  in  good  stead  for 
I  quite  enjoyed  the  trip  while  my  friend 
soon  grew  restless  and  vowed  that,  if  he 
only  had  his  wheel,  he  would  give  that 
steamer  some  points  on  speed.  We 
took  with  us  from  Leige  some  sand- 
wiches and  a  bottle  of  olives.  At  one 
place  where  there  were  two  locks  to- 
gether we  got  out  and  tried  a  little  inn 
for  something  to  drink.  For  me  they 
produced  a  bottle  of  the  worst  soda  I 
ever  drank,  and  for  my  friend  a  bottle 
of  the  worst  wine  I  hope  he  will  ever  at- 
tempt to  drink.  When  we  left  the  boat 
we  donated  the  rest  of  the  wine— which 
means  practically  all— to  the  crew.  We 
•have  not  heard  from  them  since.  At 
one  of  th9  little  stations  near  Maas- 
tricht the  Dutch  custom  officers  came 
aboard  and  had  to  be  convinced  that  I 
had  no  wine,  tobacco  or  cigars.  They 
were  not  quite  so  willing  to  take  my 
word  for  it  in  the  dark  and  had  to  look 
for  themselves,  but  we  soon  put  them 
ashore  and  renewed  our  rapid  journey. 
At,  Maastricht  another  boat  had  tied  up 


to  the  dock  and  steadfastly  refused  to 
move,  PO  we  had  to  tie  up  along  shore 
as  best  we  could.  We  got  one  of  the 
old  boatmen  with  a  lantern  to  escort  us 
to  a  hotel— the  Daenen,  which  we  found 
a  very  curious  old  place  with  some  pre 
tences  to  modernity.  We  managed  to 
get  some  bread  and  mineral  water  for  a 
lunch  and  then  retired.  At  Maastricht 
we  ceased  to  find  French  mineral  wa- 
ters and  began  to  get  German  waters. 
In  this  case  it  was  Kaiserbrunner.  an 
Aix-la  Chapelle  water. 

Maastricht  seems  lite  a  very  sm?ll 
place,  but  is  said  to  contain  30,000  in- 
habitants. The  name  of  the  town  is  a 
corruption  of  the  old  Roman  name 
which  meant  the  upper  ford  of  the 
Meuse— or  Maas,  as  it  is  spelled  in 
Dutch.  The  lower  ford  was  Utrecht, 
Maastricht  has  not  been  unknown  te 
history  since  the  Roman  days,  and  as 
lately  as  1830  it  was  the  scene  of  strife 
between  the  Dutch  and  the  Belgians. 
At  the  upper  end  of  the  towu,  near  the 
canal,  is  a  remnant  of  the  ancient  forti- 
cations.  The  streets  are  irregular  and 
the  buildings  comparatively  old*  The 
church  of  St.  Servatius  is  said  to  be  the 
oldest  in  the  Netherlands,  and,  in  spite 
of  restorations,  it  really  does  bear  very 
evident  marks  of  antiquity.  The  form- 
er baptistry  of  the  church  is  now  the 
Protestant  church.  Opposite  our  ho- 
tel was  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  or  in 
Dutch LieveVrou  wekerke  which  belongs 
to  the  eleventh  century,  but  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  restorer.  We  were  espe- 
cially pleased  with  our  visit  to  the 
town  hall,  where  we  encountered  a 
clerk  who  showed  us  through  the  build- 
ing and  its  fine  old  seventeenth  century 
rooms  with  their  old  furniture  and  tap- 
estries and  paintings.  Frequent  show- 
ers rather  interrupted  our  sight-seeing 
so  that  while  we  saw  all  the  principal 
sights  we  should  have  enjoyed  wander- 
ing about  a  bit  more.  During  one  of 
sunny  interludes  between  the  showers 
my  friend  attempted  to  get  a  photo- 
graph of  the  church  of  St.  Servatius, 
but  the  moment  he  sat  up  his  tripod,  \± 
rained  children  from  all  directions,  and 
so  his  picture  was  more  children  than 


church.  It  has  been  the  regular  experi- 
ence that  everybody  here  is  anxions  to 
have  his  picture  taken,  and  no  sooner 
does  the  camera  fiend  begin  operations 
than  they  flock  from  all  sides,  men,  wo- 
men and  children.  When  the  job  is 
completed  they,  crowd  np  expecting  to 
see  the  results  immediately.  The  Dutch, 
we  discovered,  were  a  thrifty  people,  as 
we  had  read  in  our  geographies  many 
years  ago,  quite  too  thrifty  for  us,  so  we 
turned  pur  erring  steps  towardsGermany 
Maastricht  is  blessed  with  no  railroad, 
so  one  must  cross  the  Meuse  and  pass 
through  the  suburb  of  Wyk  on  the 
right  bank  and  then  out  in  the  country 
he  finds  the  railroad  station.  We  left 
about  noon  and  reached  Aix  la-Chapelle 
at  about  half-past  two,  a  distance  of 
twenty-five  miles  without  any  scenery 
or  place  of  special  interest.  The  length 
of  time  occupied  by  the  journey  is  not 
as  great  as  appears,  for  the  change  from 
Western  Enropean  or  Greenwich  time 
i  to  Middle  European  time  is  made  in 
|  crossing  the  border  into  Germany.  At 
I  Aix-la  Chapelle  we  readily  passed  the 


German  customs  examination  and  went 
directly  to  our  hotel,  the  King  of  Spain, 
which  we  have  since  remembered  as 
our  ideal  hotel.  However  that  and  Ger- 
many are  another  story. 

I  must  not  close  this  letter  without  a 
gocd  word  for  our  guide.  Baedeker's 
Guide  Books  are  simply  indespensable 
for  the  European  tourist,  since  they 
contain  full  information  not  only  in  re- 
gard to  the  sights  he  should  see,  but  as 
to  railroad  journeys,  hotels,  cabs,  street 
cars,  and  everything  that  the  traveller 
needs  to  know.  To  be  sure  he  makes 
some  mistakes,  but  they  are  very  few, 
and  one  is  constantly  surprised  at  his 
completeness  and  accuracy.  The  things 
I  have  mentioned  in  this  letter  are  those 
that  impressed  me,  and  may  not  always 
be  those  that  are  most  important,  and 
my  impressions  may  not  always  be  cor- 
rect, but  such  as  they  are  I  have  given 
them.  Another  person  might  perhaps 
travel  ovef  the  same  ground  and  have 
entirely  different  impressions. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 

MUNICH,  Sept.  28,  1900. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JANUARY  3,  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Butcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

MUNICH,  Oct.  2,  1900. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

if  Reims  was  interesting,  Aix  la- 
Chapelle,  or  Aachen,  to  use  its  German 
name,  was  doubly  so:  more  than  that,  it 
was  delightful,  Reims,  as  I  have  said, 
is  the  place  where  the  kings  of  France 
were  crowned,  so  Aachen  is  interesting 
as  the  place  of  coronation  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Emperors  for  about  seven  cen- 
turies. "Holy  Roman  Emperor"  was 
the  title  of  the  rules  in  Germany  from 
800  to  1806,  and  until  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury they  were  regularly  crowned  at 
Rome  and  at  Aachen.  Several  import- 
ant treaties  have  been  negotiated  and 
signed  here  in  more  recent  times.  In 
spite  of  its  being  the  capital  of  Charle- 
magne, and  of  its  importance  ever  since, 
there  is  scarcely  an  old  building  exist- 
ing in  the  city  except  the  cathedral,  the 
main  part  of  which  was  built  by  Char- 
lemagne, and  some  of  the  old  city  gates, 
which  are  still  preserved  as  relics,  but 
even  they  are  of  a  far  later  date.  The 
city  has  been  almost  completely  rebuilt 
during  the  present  generation.  The 
streets  are  wide,  well  paved  and  clean. 
The  houses  are  large  modern  buildings 
of  attractive  appearance.  Taken  alto- 
gether the  contrast  with  Reims  is  very 
marked— Reims  quiet,  with  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  middle  ages;  Aachen  a 
busy,  active  place  with  every  mark  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Aachen  is  sit- 
uated on  the  very  confines  of  Germany, 
and  within  ten  miles  of  it  the  bounda- 
ries of  Belgium,  Germany  and  the 
Nettherlands  meet.  The  city  lies  in  a 
valley  and  forms  a  beautiful  sight 
when  viewed  from  the  top  of  one  of  the 
neighboring  hills,  such  as  the  Lousberg 


The  population,   including  its  suburb 
of  Bartscheid,  is  130,000. 

The  cathedral  is  the  chief  object  of 
interest,  though  it  can  in  no  way  be 
compared  to  the  beantifnl  cathedral  in 
Reims  as  an  archictnral  masterpiece. 
The  original  structure  erected  by  Char- 
lemagne about  the  year  800  still  exists, 
practically  unchanged,  but  around  this 
central  octagon  additions  have  been 
built  from  time  to  time,  the  latest  be- 
ing the  Hungarian  chapel,  in  the  last 
century  The  bronze  entrance  doors  also 
belong  to  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
The  beautiful  choir  added  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  has  been  adorned  with 
splendid  new  stained  glass  during  the 
present  century,  and  contains  several 
objects  of  interest,  some .  of  them  of 
great  antiquity.  The  most  valued  pos- 
sessions of  the  cathedral  are  collected  in 
the  treasury  which  occupies  the  Hunga- 
rian chapel.  They  consist  of  such  relics 
as  the  robe  of  the  Virgin,  the  swaddling 
clothes  of  Christ,  the  hair  of  John  the 
Baptist,  a  piece  of  the  cross,  the  bones 
of  Charlemange.  and  various  others,  be- 
sides various  objects  used  in  the  church 
service/ 

Next  to  the  Cathedral,  the  Rathhaus, 
or  town  hall  is  the  most  important 
building  of  interest.  It  was  built  on  the 
.site  of  the  old  imperial  palace  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  was  restored 
during  the  century,  but  about  twenty 
years  ago  suffered  seriously  from  fire, 
and  the  second  restoration,  which  is 
still  in  progress,  is  leaving  little  to  in- 
dicate the  age  of  the  structure.  When 
completed  it  will  be  a  splendid  public 
building  beautiful  in  both  exterior  and 
interior,  The  finest  apartment  is  the 
Kaiser saal  or  imperial  hall,  which  is  dec- 
orated with  excellent  mural  paintings 
representing  important  event  in  the  life 
of  Charlemagne.  The  windows  contain 
stained  glass  bearing  the  arms,  names 
and  dates  of  coronations  of  the  Emper- 
ors crowned  at  Aachen.  Besides  the 
Rathhaus,  there  are  a  number  of  other 
fine  modern  buildings  of  a  public  or 
semi-public  nature.  The  other  churches 
are  either  of  recent  dates,  or  have  been 
restored  recently,  so  that  they  are  all 


quite  modern  in  appearance  Aachen 
bas  been  famous  ever  since  Roman 
times  for  its  spring  of  mineral  water, 
and  its  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  Rt  - 
man  name  of  the  place  which  was  given 
in  allusion  to  these  springs.  Even  now 
the  city  is  much  frequented  as  a  health 
resort,  and  the  hotels  and  drink  halls, 
which  have  been  erected  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  springs,  are  much  Ire 
quented  both  by  citizens  and  visitors. 
The  municipal  art  gallery,  though  not 
extensive,  contains  a  choice  selection  of 
pictures,  most  of  which  were  presented 
to  his  native  city  about  twenty  years 
ago  by  Herr  Suerinondt,  in  whose  honor 
the  collection  is  known  as  the  Suerrnondt 
Museum.  Althougth  the  gallery  con- 
tains no  famous  picture,  many  of  the 
masters  are  represented  by  one  or  more 
works.  At  various  points  about  the 
town  on  street  corners  or  parks  stand 
little  wooden  cabins  called  drink-halls, 
where  mineral  waters  and  soft  drinks 
are  for  sale.  Such  little  drink  halls, 
which  resembled  the  old  Tillotson  stand 
on  the  corner  of  North  avenue  and  Main 
street,  though  a  little  more  artistic  in 
appearance,  are  to  be  found  in  most 
German  cities.  Aachen  is  quite  a 
manufacturing  town  and  is  especially 
famous  for  its  needles.  The  appearance 
of  the  people  is  in  marked  contrast  to 
that  of  the  French  whom  we  had  seen 
at  Reims.  They  are  now  vigorous 
and  healthy  in  appearance,  and, 
on  the  average,  bfetter  clothed.  I 
was  going  to  say  better  dressed,  but 
they  are  no  well-dressed  Germans  ex- 
cept th,e  army  officers.  This  opinion  is 
undoubtedly  based  upon  the  American 
conception  of  what  the  phrase  "well- 
dressed"  means  and  not  upon  the  Ger- 
man, if  so  be  that  they  have  any.  Even 
the  German  dandy  would  have  to  pay 
some  attention  to  his  ties,  and  much  to 
his  collars  and  shoes,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  fit  of  his  garments,  if  he  would  com- 
pete with  the  average  American  youths. 
Probably  nothing  contributes  more  to 
a  pleasing  impression  of  a  place  than 
a  pleasant  room  and  good  board,  and  in 
this  we  were  most  fortunate  at  Aachen. 
The  "King  of  Spain"  (probably  the 


descendant  of  an  ancient  tavern  which 
had  as  its  sign  the  portrait  of  some 
Spanish  Monarch)  like  onr  Reims  hotel, 
is  patronized  almost  entirely  by  travel 
ling  men  and  is  an  unpretentious  place- 
with  moderate  charges  The  German 
breakfast  (or  Fruehstueck  corresponds 
exactly  to  the  French  petit  dejeuner. 
The  noonday  meal  or  Mittagessen  as  al- 
ways a  la  carte  and  is  generally  eaten  at 
about  half  past  seven.  A  good  room 
can  be  had  anywhere  in  Germany  for 
two  marks,  and  Fruehstueck  for  one 
mark.  In  many  places  good  accommo- 
dations can  be  had  for  a  mark  and  a 
half  with  Fruehstueck  at  three-quarters 
of  a  mark.  The  table  d'hote  dinner 
costs  from  two  marks  and  a  half  up- 
wards, with  three  marks  as  a  reasonable 
average  However,  except  in  places 
along  the  French  border,  the  dinner  is 
no  longer  served  table  d'hote  but  a  sim- 
ilar course  dinner  is  served  apart  at 
prices  ranging  from  a  mark  upwards, 
depending  on  the  number  of  courses.  A 
good  dinner  with  soup,  two  meats  with 
side  dishes  and  dessert  can  generally  be 
had  for  from  one  mark  twenty  pfennigs, 
to  one  mark  fifty  pfinnigs,  while  a  third 
course  of  meat  costs  thirty  or  forty 
pfennigs  more.  If  dinner  of  this  sort 
cannot  be  obtained  in  the  hotel,  one  can 
generally  find  a  good  restaurant  handy. 
The  supper  is  apt  to  be  more  expensive 
than  the  dinner,  for  the  American  taste 
and  appetite  can  seldom  be  satisfied  for 
less  than  two  marks.  Sometimes  one 
will  find  that  a  regular  supper  is  served 
for  a  mark  or  a  trifle  more,  which  will 
suit  as  well  as  a  supper  of  his  own  choos- 
ing. In  almost  every  case  the  drinks 
are  extra,  generally  amounting  to  about 
fifty  pfennings.  Including  the  necessary 
fees  one  can  seldom  do  better  than  eight 
marks  a  day  for  room  and  board  at  the 
hotels  and  restaurants  in  Germany. 
Tips  or  tririkgeld  (drink  money)  are  not 
expected  quite  as  much  as  in  France, 
but  the  waiters  look  for  a  tip  of  five  or 
ten  per  cent  of  the  bill,  and  the  porter 
expects— even  demands— a  liberal  fee 
for  permission  to  carry  your  baggage. 
One  very  good  way  to  be  economical  is 
to  be  your  own  porter. 


The  German  mark  at  the  standard 
rate  of  exchange  is  23  8  cents,  and  is  di- 
vided into  one  hnndred  parts  callee. 
pfennigs.  The  gold  coins  are  the  ten 
and  twenty  mark  pieces;  the  silver 
pieces  .are  of  five,  three,  two  and  one 
marks  and  fifty  and  twenty  pfennings; 
there  are  five,  ten  and  twenty  pfenning 
nickel  pieces,  and  one  and  two  pfenning 
copper  coins.  There  are  also  bank  notes 
of  five,  twenty,  fifty,  one  hundred,  five 
hnndred  and  one  thousand  marks.  Gold 
coins  are  in  constant  use  in  a  way  that 
surprises  the  American,  and  bank  notes 
are  far  less  in  evidence.  Small  amounts 
are  always  carried  in  gold,  and  the  only 
bank  notes  that  are  familiar  are  those 
of  fifty  and  one  hundred  marks.  In 
drawing  my  money  I  regularly  get  gold. 
The  method  of  carrying  money  which  I 
have  adopted  is  a  letter  of  credit  with  a 
London  banking  firm.  These  letters  of 
credit  can  be  obtained  through  almost 
any  bank  in  the  United  States  for  sums 
of  one  hundred  pounds  or  multiples 
thereof  and  cost  1  per  cent.  To  obtain 
your  money,  you  visit  the  bank,  in  the 
place  where  you  are,  which  is  the  cor- 
respondent of  your  London  banker,  pre- 
sent your  letter  of  credit  and  ask  for — 
say  five  pounds.  The  banker  writes  a 
draftj  on  the  London  bankers  which 
you  sign,  usually  along  with  a  receipt 
for  the  five  pounds,  and  the  amount  of 
the  draft  is  indorsed  on  the  letter  of 
credit.  Ycu  then  present  the  receipt, 
or  the  banker's  memorandum  at  the 
cashier's  window  and  receive  your  five 
pounds  in  German  money  at  the  cur- 
rent rate  of  exchange  which  varies 
from  101  to  102  marks.  It  is  wisest  to 
draw  only  so  much  as  one  needs  imme- 
diately, for  money  maybe  drawn  on  the 
letter  of  credit  almost  anywhere  even 
with  bankers  who  are  not  on  the  list  of 
correspondents  of  your  bankers  With- 
in the  last  few  years  a  new  method  has 
become  quite  popular  because  of  its 
cheapness— one-half  of  1  per  cent.— and 
because  of  its  greater  convenience,  that 
i^  to  use  the  checks  of  the  American 
Express  Company  or  of  some  other  well- 
known  banking  corporation.  These 


checks  which  are  drawn  for  convenient  ! 
amounts,  come  in  books  for  such  round 
sums  as  five  hundred  dollars.  Each 
check  is  signed  by  the  purchaser  in  the 
presence  of  the  company's  agent,  and 
when  he  wishes  it  cashed  he  signs  it 
again  in  the  presence  of  the  company's 
agent  where  he  wishes  to  draw  the 
money.  The  identity  of  the  signature, 
as  is  also  the  case  with  the  letters  of 
credit,  is  considered  sufficient  identifica- 
tion. These  checks  are  paid  at  a  fixed 
rate  of  exchange  which  is  printed  on  the 
check.  In  the  matter  of  exchange  the 
owners  of  letters  of  credit  and  of  checks 
will  generally  come  out  about  even  in 
the  long  run.  The  traveller  who  is  con- 
stantly on  the  wing  has  his  mail  ad- 
dressed to  his  bankers  who  forward  it  to 
him  at  his  direction.  It  is  much  better 
to  have  letters  sent  this  way  and  then 
readdressed  in  care  of  the  banker's  cor 
respondent  in  the  place  where  yon  are, 
than  to  have  them  addressed  to  your 
hotel  or  boarding  house,  or  to  the  gen- 
eral delivery  (poste  restante).  You  will 
find  that  the  banker  will  almost  inva- 
riably speak  English,  that  he  is  always 
courteous  and  you  feel  that  3Tour  letters 
are  safe —as  you  cannot  when  you  see  the 
way  they  are  treated  at  hotels,  or  when 
you  have  to  depend  upon  the  doubtful 
understanding  of  a  foreign  postal  offi- 
cial. A  large  supply  of  calling  cards  is 
a  very  handy  thing,  for  it  is  always 
safe  to  present  one  in  asking  for  your 
mail  in  order  that  there  shall  be  no 
mistake  about  the  name.  In  leaving  a 
place  always  give  the  banker  a  card 
with  your  next  address  so  that  any  let 
ters  that  may  arrive  too  late  for  you 
may  be  sent  on.  The  courtesy  of  th« 
German  banking  officials  and  clerks  is 
a  constat  and  pleasant  surprise  even  to 
one  accustomed  to  the  most  courteous 
treatment  by  American  bankers.  Every 
bank  with  any  pretentious  has  a  uni- 
formed porter  at  the  outer  door  who 
raises  his  hat  and  says,  "Good  morn 
ing"  and  is  ready  to  direct  you,  and 
when  you  leave  he  salntes  you  in  like 
manner.  The  more  pretentious  banks 
also  have  another  porter  at  the  inner 
door,  and,  in  response  to  his  salutation, 


yon  remove  yoar  hatand  leave  it  on  the 
hat  rack  until  you  leave  the  bank.  The 
banking  honrs  vary  somewhat  bat  are 
nsnally  from  8  to  12  in  the  morning  and 
from  3  to  5  in  the  afternoon. 

CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK, 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JANUARY  10,  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

1  George  M.  Butcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Tetter. 

(Continued  from  last  week.) 

We  left  Aachen  on  Saturday  morn- 
ing, the  fourth  of  August,  and  reached 
Cologne  at  noon  after  a  ride  of  forty 
five  miles  which  took  an  hour  and  a 
qnarter  011  an  express  train.  German 
trains  vary  little  from  the  French,  ex 
cept  that  as  a  rule,  they  are  a  little  bet 
ter  and  a  little  more  convenient,  About 
the  stations  also,  as  a  general  thing,  the 
safety  and  convenience  of  the  traveller 
is  looked  after  more  carefully.  Along 
the  Rhine,  at  least,  the  ordinary  trains 
carry  four  classes  of  passengers.  The 
fourth  class  is  about  half  as  good  and 
half  as  expensive  as  the  third,  The 
fonrih  class  cars  have  seats  along  the 
sides  and  ends  and  the  rest  is  standing 
room.  They  are  patronized  almost  ex- 
clusively by  working  people.  The  or- 
dinary train  (personenzug)  is  very  slow 
and  corresponds  to  our  "accommoda- 
tion train"  and  sometimes  even  to  our 
freight  and  accommodation."  The  ex- 
press train  (sclmellzug)  carries  no  fourth 
class,  and  the  o;her  clisses  pay  from 
two-thirds  of  a  cent  to  a  cent  more  per 
mile  on  the  express  train  than  on  the 
ordinary  train.  The  express  train  is 
snppo^ed  to  correspond  to  our  trains 
like  Erie  train  No.  1,  but  No.  1  would 
distance  them  in  short  order. 

The  city  of  our  next  stay  is  known  to 
th:>  French  and  English  as  Cologne  and 
to  the  Germans  as  Koln,  or  as  it  is  now 
officially  spelled,  Coin.  The  name 


c  >mes  from  that  or  the  original  lioman 
s  ittlement  Colonia  Agrippinensis  f ound- 
ei  in  the  first  century.  {Since  the  time 
of  Charlemagne  it  has  been  the  seat  of 
an  arch  bishop,  who,  like  the  Bishop  of 
Liege,  gradually  became  the  real  tem- 
poral ruler  of  the  city  and  surrounding 
country,  and  ultimately  he  became  one 
of  the  seven  great  princes  of  the  Em- 
pire whose  right  it  was  to  elect  the  Em- 
peror. Also  like  the  Bishop  of  Liege 
he  was  engaged  for  centuries  in  a  strug- 
gle with  the  towns  people  who  insisted 
upon  asserting,  what  they  were  pleased 
to  consider,  their  rights.  The  French 
Revolution  ended  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  and  his 
dominions  became  a  part  of  France,  but 
after  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon  they 
passed  to  Prussia.  The  population 
amounts  to  at  least  860,000,  while  there 
are  several  towns  within  a  radius  of  five 
miles  from  the  cathedral  with  a 
total  of  at  least  50,000  more 
inhabitants.  During  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  the  Protest- 
ants were  expelled  from  Cologne  and 
took  up  their  residence  in  the  neighbor- 
ing towns.  As  a  result  Cologne  is  a 
Catholic  stronghold,  and  more  than 
yigbty  per  cent,  of  the  population  is 
Catholic.  At  the  beginn:n^  of  the  cen- 
tury Cologne  was  pre-eminently  a  city  of 
churches  for  they  then  numbered  more 
than  a  hundred.  Many  of  them  were 
secularized  during  the  French  rule  and 
have  disappeared.  The  city  is  also  im 
portant  in  a  military  way,  as  there  aie 
extensive  fortifications  with  large  gar- 
risons in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
Few  places  in  Europe  are  better 
known  to  the  tourist  than  Cologne.  For 
this  there  are  two  reasons.  It  is  the 
usual  starting  point  for  a  trip  up  the 
Rhine,  or  the  terminus  of  a  trip  down; 
and  it  has  a  cathedral  which  is  proba 
bly  the  finest  example  of  gothic  archi- 
tecture in  the  world.  This  famous 
church  was  begun  by  Archbishop  Con- 
ral  of  He  chstaden  in  1248  and  comple- 
ted in  1880.  The  oldest  part  is  the 
choir,  then  the  transept*,  then  the  nave 
aod  finally  the  towers.  During  the 
thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 


centuries,  neither  time,  talent  nor  money 
were  spared  on  the  great  work.  Then 
for  thirteen  centuries  little  more  was 
done,  and  daring  the  eighteenth  centu 
ry  it  was  already  beginning  to  show 
marks  of  neglect  when  the  French  sol- 
diers arrived  in  Cologne,  and  found  the 
cathedral  convenient  for  a  bar  barn 
It  was  not  until  the  city  became  Prus 
sian  that  the  cathedral  once  more  re- 
ceived proper  attention,  and,  under  a 
succession  of  able  architects,  was 
brought  to  completion,  according  to  the 
original  plans  as  far  as  they  could  be 
found.  During  the  present  century,  sev 
eral  millions  of  dollars  have  been  ex- 
pended in  the  work  of  repairing  and 
completing  the  building.  The  centu- 
ries which  the  great  church  stood  un- 
completed gave  rise  to  a  typical  rnedi 
aeval  German  legend  that  the  Evil  One 
famished  the  architect  with  the  plan  in 
exchange  for  his  soul.  Afterwards  the 
architect  repented  of  the  bargain;  and 
the  Devil,  when  he  paw  that  he  was 
cheated,  pronounced  the  curse  that  the 
building  should  never  be  completed  and 
that  its  architect's  name  should  never 
be  remembered.  Modern  enterprise  has, 
however,  completed  the  building  and 
modern  investigation  has  identified 
with  some  degree  of  certainty  the  name 
of  the  master  who  planned  it.  This 
story  is  told  in  a  pleasing  manner  in 
"Zigzag  Journeys  in  Northern  Lands," 
and  so  may  be  remembered  by  many 
who  in  younger  days  have  enjoyed  that 
series  of  stories  of  travel. 

It  would  be  folly  for  me  to  attempt 
any  sort  of  description  of  this  beau- 
tiful structure  but  I  can  mention 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
interesting  points.  Standing  near  the 
entrance  door  or  in  the  choir  the  view 
of  the  nave  is  magnificent.  From  the 
floor  to  the  ceiling,  which  is  supported  by 
four  rows  of  massive  columns,  the  dis- 
tance is  145  feet.  The  two  aisles  on 
either  side  of  the  nave  and  formed  by 
the  columns  are  about  half  as  wide  and 
half  as  high  as  the  nave  itself.  In  the 
five  windows  in  the  north  aisle  the 
stained  glass  belongs  to  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  while  for  the  cor- 


responding  windows  in  the  south  aisle 
the  stained  glass  was  designed  and  made 
in  Mnnich  and  presented  to  the  cathe 
drai  by  King  Louis  I  of  Bavaria  in  1848 
In  both  cases  the  work  and  the  designs 
were  the  best  that  the  age  could  afford, 
and  both  series  of  windows  are  magnifi 
cent,  yet  the  contrast  between  the  two 
is  very  marked,  and  not  all  the  good 
points  are  on  the  side  of  the  modern 
work.  The  choir,  as  the  oldest  part  of 
church,  contains  much  of  interest  as  do 
also  the  eight  chapels  which  encircle  it, 
and  the  sacristy  and  treasury  which  ad- 
join it.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  several  of 
the  archbishops,  old  stained  glass  win- 
dows and  ancient  altars,  besides  carvings 
and  paintings  of  various  degrees  of  anti- 
quity. The  orignal  plans  of  the  cathe 
dral,  as  far  as  they  exist,  are  preserved  in 
these  chapels.  The  altar  piece  in  one  of 
the  chapels  is  the  famous  Dombild,  a 
series  of  five  pictures  painted  by  Ste- 
phan  Lochner  abont  1450,  which  is  gen- 
erally considered  the  masterpiece  of  the 
early  German  school  of  painting,  la 

the  treasury  are  many  valuable  and  in- 
teresting objects,  of  which  the  most  im- 
portant is  the  large,  handsomely  deco- 
rated reliquary  which  contains  the  bones 
of  the  "Three  Wise  Men,"  or  as  the 
Germans  always  call  them.  "The  Three 
Kings."  For  centuries  these  bones  were 
at  Constantinople  and  then  at  Milan, 
whence  they  were  taken  by  the  Emper- 
or Frederick  Barbarossa  and  presented 
to  Cologne  more  than  seven  hundred 
years  ago  The  possession  of  the  re- 
nowned relics  of  the  Three  Kings  is  to 
this  day  proudly  heralded  by  the  three 
crowns  in  the  city's  arms?.  To  visit  the 
choir,  the  chapels  and  the  treasury  cost 
a  mark  and  a  half,  but  one  feels  amply 
repaid  for  it,  as  he  does  also  for  the 
mark  which  it  cost  to  ascend  one  of  the 
towers  and  to  walk  about  the  galleries 
inside  and  outside  the  cathedral.  With- 
out this  visit  to  the  galleries  and  tow- 

I  era  which  demands  a  great  deal  of  exer- 
tion, one  has  little  idea  of  the  real  grand- 
eur and  beauty  of  the  building.  In  the 
course  of  this  visit  one  also  sees  the 

I  cathedral  bells,  the  Itrgest  of  which 
weighs  twenty-five  tons  and  requires 


twenty  eight  men  to  ring  it,  a  feat  only 
attempted  on  special  occasions.  From 
the  tower  one  gets  a  splendid  view  of 
the  city  and  the  surrounding  country. 
Externally  the  cathedral,  or  dom  as  it  is 
always  called  in  German,  did  not  im- 
press me  quits  so  favorably  as  1  had  ex- 
pected, nor  as  well  as  did"  the  magnifi- 
cent interior,  The  west  facade,  or  front, 
is  beautiful,  but  with  the  exception  of 
the  towers  cannot  be  compared  to  the 
splendid  facade  of  the  Reims  cathedral. 
The  twin  towers  with  their  beautiful 
open  work  spires  512  feet  high  merit  all 
the  praise  that  can  be  bestowed  upon 
them.  The  cathedral  must  not  be  vis- 
ited hurriedly,  for  it  requires  a  great 
deal  of  time  to  appreciate  it  and  should 
be  seen  in  two  or  three  visits  instead  of 
one  prolonged  one.  In  fact  several  vis- 
its are  quite  apt  to  be  necessary  since 
the  frequent  services  interrupt  the 
sight-seers,  for  quite  properly  perfect 
order  is  rigidly  maintained  during  ser- 
vice by  gorgeous  red-robed  black-cap- 
ped beadles,  who  wield  as  their  symbol 
of  authority  long  wooden  rods  adorned 
with  brass. 

CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK, 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JANUARY  17,  1901. 

••  _______ 

TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


G.-orgo  M.  Du'cher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting: I  etter. 

(Continued  from  last  week  ) 
Besides  the  Doin,  I  visited  about  fif- 
teen other  churches,  most  of  them 
hoary  with  age,  in  epite  of  the  restora- 
tions and  found  them  more  or  less  in- 
teresting. Cologne  has  about  as  many 
more  churches,  either  small  or  modern, 
which  offer  no  attraction  to  the  tourist 
By  all  odds,  the  one  most  worthy  of  a 
visit  is  the  church  of  St  Ursula  and 
the  11, 000  virgins.  To  see  this  sacred 
place  one  mark's  worth  of  filthy  lucre 


i.s  necessary.  As  a  rnie  guides  and 
sacristans  discourse  upon  the  objects 
of  interest  in  German,  and,  for  the  ben- 
efit of  English  and  French  visitors, 
make  a  few  side  remarks  which  they 
have  picked  up  and  memorized  but  thi^ 
sacristan  was  an  exception  arid  seemed 
a  well  -educated,  intelligent  man.  He 
described  at  length  the  various  relics  in 
good  English  at,d  good  French,  there 
being  no  Germans  in  the  party.  That 
he  was  not  reciting  his  "piece"  was 
evident,  for  he  gave  intelligent  an- 
swers to  various  questions  in  both  Ian 
guages.  The  chief  relics,  as  is  always 
the  rule,  are  gathered  in  the  treasury, 
and  include  the  skulls  of  Sfc.  Ursula  and 
and  many  of  her  companions,  highly 
prized  relics  of  several  other  ?ainfs.  and 
old  reliquaries,  rnonetrances  and  other 
objects  connected  with  the  church  and 
its  services.  In  the  party  was  a  middle 
aged  man — I  fear  an  American — who 
sniffed  in  a  sceptical  manner  as  each 
valued,  sacred  relic  was  reverently  dis- 
played and  described.  Finally  there 
was  shown  us  one  of  the  water  jars 
from  the  wedding  feast  of  Cana.  This 
waa  too  much  for  him  and  he  sniffed 
more  audibly  than  ever  and  proceeded 
to  make  known  his  doubts  in  the  matter. 
In  reply  the  guide  explained  that  it 
was  a  well  substantiated  fact  that  the 
jar  was  brought  from  Cana  to  Cologne 
during  the  Crusades,  and  added  con- 
vincingly that  the  Crusades  wonld  not 
have  gone  to  all  that  bother  if  it  had 
not  been  the  real  thing.  I  do  not  know 
what  the  real  feeling  of  tiv?  Catholic 
are  in  regard  to  these  various  relics  but 
I  do  know  that  they  always  treat  them 
with  the  greatest  reverence,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  those  who  are  not  Cath 
olics  should  not  go  to  see  these  relics  un- 
less they  are  willing  to  be  polite  enough 
to  respect  the  feelings  of  those  to  whom 
they  are  sacred.  The  guide  explained 
to  us  the  history  of  St.  Ursula  and  the 
11,000  virgins  in  this  way:  St.  Ursula 
was  an  English  princess  who,  with 
some  attendants,  had  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  Rome  and  happened  to  be  at  Co 
logne  on  her  way  home  when  A*tUa, 
the  Hun.  in  his  retreat  after  his  deci 


sive  defeat  HI;  Chalons  reached  the  city 
and  wreaked  a  terrible  vengeance  upon 
it.  The  men  perished  in  atteojpting  to 
off  the  attack,  and  the  women, 
about  11,000  in  number,  were  to  be  tak- 
en home  by  Attila  as  slaves,  but  under 
the  lead  of  St.  Ursula  they  refused  to 
submit  to  the  ignorny  and  shame  which 
this  implied,  and,  consequently,  were 
massacred  on  the  spot  just  outside  the 
gates  of  the  old  city.  When  the  Scourge, 
as  Attilla  called  himself,  had  passed, 
the  few  survivors  of  the  inhabitants  re- 
turned and  reverently  buried  the  bodies 
of  the  martyrs  at  the  place  where  they 
fell.  As  far  as  identification  was  pos- 
sible the  bodies  were  each  placed  in  & 
separate  stone  coffin,  but  the  vast  mass 
could  not  be  identified  and  their  bodies 
were  buried  together.  In  the  course  of 
time  a  church  was  built  on  the  spot  and 
ultimately  the  church  became  the  re- 
pository for  the  bones  of  the  martyrs 
which  were  exhumed,  Several  of  the 
stone  coffins,  including  St.  Ursula's, 
are  preserved  in  the  church.  Besides 
the  large  number  of  skulls  and  other 
bones  preserved  in  the  Treasury,  there 
is  a  far  larger  quantity  disposed  about 
the  walls  of  the  whole  church,  often 
times  arranged  in  an  artistic  manner. 
Of  the  other  important  churches,  the 
•jr  for  tb*Mr  «"*iquity  and 
their  architecture  are  Si.  vjoi-eon,  St. 
Martin's,  St.  Maria  im  Capitol,  and  the 
Apostle's  Church. 

Of  the  government  buildings  in  Co- 
logue<  the  only  one  to  which  age  lends 
a  charm  is  the  Rathhaus,  of  which  the 
most  r.ncient  part  is  five  centuries  old. 
Several  additions  have  been  made  at 
various  times,  and  now  tbe  nsim!  ] 
ration  is  in  progress.  A  court  in  the 
building,  known  as  the  Lion's  Court, 
commemorates  an  incident  in  the  per- 
ennial struggle  between  the  archbishop 
and  the  townspeople  A  certain  moie 
or  le°sgood  archbishp  did  not  love  a  cer- 
tain more  or  less  wicked  burgomaster, 
and  one  day  the  burgomasi>r  was  :an 
unwilling  guest  in  the  arbhbishop's 
den  of  lions,  but  Daniel  like,  he  escaped 
unhurt  There  are  several  fine,  inter- 
esting apartments  in  the  Ratbhaus,  of 


which  the  most  notable  is  a  large  ha)l 
in  the  oldest  part  of  tha  building,  in 
which  the  first  meeting  of  the  Hanseatic 
League  is  said  to  have  been  held  in  1367. 
Oi:  museums,  the  only  one  worthy  of 
mention  is  the  municipal  collection 
known  as  the  Wallraf-Richartz  Museum 
from  two  natives  of  Cologne  who  made 
the  most  important  donations  to  it. 
The  lower  floor  is  occupied  by  the  collec 
tion  of  antiques,  and  the  paintings  fill 
the  rooms  on  the  upper  floor.  The  most 
valuable  part  of  the  collection,  consists 
of  works  of  tbe  early  school  of  painters 
who  flourished  at  Cologne  in  the  fif- 
teenth centnry.  The  subjects  of  these 
pictures  are  almost  invariably  biblical 
or  ecclesiastical  and  the  execution  is 
quite  different  from  onr  present  day 
ideals,  yet  they  exhibit  a  good  deal  of 
genius  and  are  of  great  importance  in 
the  history  of  art.  There  are  several 
e-ond  works  of  Italian  and  Netherlan- 
dish masters,  bnt  the  gam  of  the  collec- 
ti  >u  is  the  Pardon  of  St.  Francis,  by 
Mnrillo.  The  modern  painters  are  well 
represented,  but  I  must  mention  only  a 
s  ngle  picture,  the  well-known  portrait 
of  Queen  Lonise,  by  Ricliter.  copies  of 
which  are  to  be  seen  all  over  Germany, 
In  monuments  and  fountains,  Co- 
logne is  not  lacking,  yet  I  must  content 
.myself  with  mentioning  but  one,  the 
monument  in  memory  of  Frederick 
William  III,  King  of  Persia,  the  hus- 
band of  Qaeen  Louise  and  the  father  of 
the  Old  Kaiser.  On  a  high  pedestal  is 
an  equestrian  statue  of  the  king  sur 
rounded  by  statues  of  the  leading 
statesmen  and  soldiers  who  served  him. 
On  the  sides  of  the  pedestal  are  reliefs 
representing  Prussian  progress  during 
the  king's  reign.  Of  bridges,  Cologne 
boasts  of  one  and  has  another.  A  great 
iron  viaduct  carries  the  railroad  and 
the  higaway  across  the  Rhine  to  Deutz 
on  the  east  bank.  At  the  Cologne  end 
of  the  bridge  is  an  equestrian  statue  of 
Frederick  William  IV.,  and  at  the 
Deutz  end  is  one  of  William  I.  As  on 
many  of  the  Rhine  bridges  a  toll  is 
charged,  in  this  case  two  pfennigs,  one- 
half  cent  Above  the  iron  bridge  is  a 
bridge  of  boats,  one  of  the  many  on  the 


Rhine.  The  bridges  are  built  in  sec- 
tions which  are  borne  by  boats  in.  form 
like  a  row  boat,  bnt  in  size,  great  scows. 
The  boats  carrying  certain  sections  of 
the  bridge  are  propelled  by  steani  so  that 
the  bridge  can  open  and  let  steamers 
pass,  and  then  close  again.  These 
bridges  of  boats  are  for  teams  and  pedes- 
trians, who  must  always  pay  a  toll 

Cologne's  busiest  street  is  the  Hohe 
Strasse,  or  High  street,  with  its  contin^- 
nations  and  a  visit  to  Cologne  is  incom- 
plete without  a  walk  along  it,  both  in 
the  daytime  and  in  the  evening.  This 
important  business  street  is,  of  course, 
not  straight,  and  in  width  certainly 
never  exceeds  that  of  Lake  street  at  the 
Front  street  end,  and  in  places  is  nar- 
rower. Stores  and  shops  of  all  sorts  are 
to  be  found  along  either  side  of  the 
street,  each  vying  with  the  other  in  dis 
playing  its  wares  to  ca^ch  the  unwary 
tourist.  Running  through  the  middle 
of  one  of  the  blocks  from  the  Hohe 
Strasse  to  the  next  street  parallel,  is  the 
Empress  Augusta  Passage,  an  arcade 
with  little  shops  on  either  side.  Similar 
passages  or  arcades  are  to  be  found  in 
various  European  cities.  At  all  times 
of  day  and  in  the  evening  the  Hohe 
£tfa.s-,sr  is  thronged,  and. the  little  yard- 
wide  sidewalks  ara  abandoned  and 
everybody  walks  in  the  middle  of  the 
street.  This  habit  of  walking  in  the 
middle  of  the  street  is  quite  universal 
and  frequently  necessary  in  Germany. 
Sidewalks  are  a  thing  comparatively 
modern,  it  seems,  and  frequently  one 
finds  the  pavement  of  the  roadway 
much  preferable.  The  favorite  material 
for  both  sidewalks  and  road  ways  is  stone 
in  blocks,  with  surfaces  about  six  inch- 
es square.  Asphalt,  or  cement  walks, 
are  common,  and  asphalt  roadways  are 
coming  into  favor.  Occasionally  one 
finds  streets  paved  with  wooden  blocks. 

In  Cologne,  as  is  frequently  the  case 
in  the  large  cities  now,  the  ancient  for- 
tifications have  been  removed  and  their 
place  taken  by  a  Ringstrasse^  or  circle  of 
boulevards,  Along  this  Ringstrasse  are 
the  finest  buildings  of  modern  Cologne, 
and  along  it  and  in  the  adjacent  streets 


I  are  the  finest  residences.      These  boule- 
I  vards  consist  not  or  walks  and 

I  roadways  but  are  1  ned  with  rows  of 

-  plots, 

:s,  fonntains,  artificial  streams 
i,  and  a   few  relics  of  t- 
A  walk  on   th* 

Bating  than   oii'i  on   the 
mature 

vast  number  of 
'.r*;n  and  nurse  maids. 

in  Cologne  lasted  jast  fonr 
pat  ail  our  time  in 
g  for  uiy  frieud  had 
-unk  and    bicycle  to   hnnt  np  and 
As  he  is  to  stay  in  Germany, 
i".M  taken  on  to  Hamburg  by 
sent  ori   to  Cologne, 
-and  everything  f-.afe  and   satisfac- 
tory, after  the  necessary  trouble  in  dis- 
roper  people  and   getting 
i  to  their  erd  of  the  pro- 
la  tun  meantime,  I  frittered 
away  valuable  honrs  in  one    way  and 

•t,  of  the  while  1 
ii*  series  of  letter*.     Oar 
.;ne,  the  Land 
.,  it   was  i 

firal.        While    not    absolutely    bad,    it 

Ht  corne-dov;u  from   the  King 

!  Aachen,  thongh  in  JHK 

tiou  1  might  hdd   that  it  was  a  trifle 

i  a  little  aujabement 

•he    elderly 

m    the    dining- 

:iind  a  little  counter 

d  the  waiter's 

ihe    kitchen    throngh    a 

w.      Throngh    the  same 

<;d  the  va 

,u  the  kitcnen  and  \>- 
tneLu  on  to  the  waiter.  The  expre 
which  I,  that  amused  us  most 

was  "Three  times  one  eonp,"  whe1. 

i  to  order  three  scraps.  Her  dia 
lectical  pronunciation  heightened  the 
humorous  effect.  In  Cologne,  my  friend 
and  I  each  indulged  in  an  experiment 
on  how  the  Germans  do  it.  He  had  his 
hair  cat.  a  shave  and  a  shampoo  all  for 
nineteen  (  looked  quite  pre 

•jf  the 
uiented  on  the  lann- 


dry.     My  luck  'was    not    bad,   neither 
was  it  startingly  good.     The  work  was 
iy  done  arid  the  prices  a  trifle 
•  e,     More  recent  ex 
'•ii  this   'line   have  been  more 
;ble  and  a    little  cheaper.      The 
laundries  over  here  nnblnshingly  adver- 
.  ;buiseives  as  chemical  wanning  es- 
tablishments—a   fact  which    does  not 
Horve  to  recommend  them  to  Americans. 
The  morning  we  were  in  Maastricht, 
rain  somewhat   hindered  onr  sight  see- 
ing, and  thereafter  for  over  three  weeks 
scarcely  a  period  of  twenty  four   hours 
elapsed   without  some  rain.     A  heavy 
shower  came  up  on  Wednesday  morning 
when  we  had  planned  to  start    np  the 
tthiue.       My   friend    was    to    ride  his 
wheel  while  I  was  to  go  on  by  train  or 
is  thb  notion  might  seize  me.    The 
raiiji -ceased  about  noon  and  we  decided 
on  to  Bonn  by  the  1  o'clock  boat, 
ar  greedy  appetites  did  not  permit. 
Finding. nearly  two  hours  on  oar  hands 
to  waste,  we  took  a  little  local  steamer 
to   Mnlheiin    am  Rhein,      three    miles 
the  river  on  the  opposite  bank. 
Muiheiin  is  a  city  of  thirty  thousand  in 
habitants,    mostly   descendants  of  the 
Protestants  who    were    expelled    from 
Cologne  in  the  seventieth  century.  The 
only  sights  in  this  busy   factory  town 
are  the  beautiful  modern  church  and  an 
nan    statue  of  the    Old    Kaiser. 
Returning  from  this  hurried  excursion, 
lock  boat  up  tbe  world's 
most  famous  river.    Whether  the  Rhine 
i.->not  the  moat  famous  river  in  the 
world  I  am   not  sure,  but  I  am  certain 
that  it  ought  not  to  be.     How  I  came  to 
form  this  terrible  Judgment  I  must  re- 
late in  the  future, 

Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JANUARY  24,  1901, 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Butcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

PARIS,  December  5,  1900. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

Several  weeks  have  passed  since  that 
dismal  night  of  cold  and  rain  at  Nnrem- 
bnrg  when  I  finished  iny  last  letter  to 
yon.  Meanwhile  I  have  seen  two  of 
Germany's  greatest  cities  and  many  oth- 
ers of  smaller  size  and  less  notoriety, 
and  have  revisited  the  two  cities  men- 
tioned in  my  last  letter  and  now  I  am 
once  more  settled  in  the  city  whose 
prond  boast  is  that  she  is  France. 

First  impressions  are  proverbially 
nntrnstworthy,  so  I  planned  on  my  trip 
from  Berlin  to  Paris  to  stop  off  for  a 
few  honrs  at  Cologne  and  at  Aachen 
and  take  a  review  lesson.  I  am  delight- 
ed that  I  did;  for  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
finding  that  my  first  impressions  had 
not  been  too  roseate,  but  the  contrary. 
It  was  indeed  a  pleasure  after  having 
seen  the  most  famous  churches  in  Ger- 
many, to  come  back  to  that  most  fa- 
mous of  all  and  to  find  how  justly  it  has 
won  its  fame.  To  be  sure  there  are 
various  cathedrals  and  churches  which 
can  surpass  the  Cologne  Cathedral  in 
some  detail:  Ulm  has  a  loftier  spire, 
Strassburg  a  finer  west  facade,  and 
Bamberg  and  Erfurt  more  picturesque 
situations.  Taken  altogether,  both  for 
exterior  and  for  interior,  the  Cologne 
cathedral  is  unsurpassed  in  beauty  and 
grandeur  in  Germany.  The  Aachen 
cathedral  also  pleased  better  than  be- 
fore, though  it  is  not  so  ancient  as  that 
in  Treves,  and  is  rivaled  in  historic  in- 
terest by  that  at  Frankfurt.  The  pic- 
ture galleries,  both  at  Aachen  and  at 
Cologne,  I  found  small  compared  with 
several  that  1  have  since  seen,  but  thwy 
are  each  a  credit  to  their  city  and  con- 
tain some  excellent  pictures.  I  think  I 


especially  mentioned  Richter's  famons 
picture  of  Qneen  Louise,  which  is  in 
the  Cologne  gallery.  All  over  Germany 
I  foond  copies  of  it,  and  in  Berlin  and 
Potsdam  I  saw  many  other  portraits, 

both  painted  and  sculptured,  represent- 
ing the  ill-fated  qneen,  so  I  took  a  care- 
fnl  second  look  at  this  well-known  pic- 
ture. Of  its  beauty  and  artistic  merit 
there  can  be  little  qnestion,  but  I  found 
that  the  artist  had  painted  not  a  Prus- 
sian queen  but  a  goddess. 

Even  guide  books  occasionally  con- 
tain »  fragment  of  humor— lost,  strayed 
or  stolen.  The  instance  I  am  going  to 
I  mention  is  a  part  of  a  sentence  in  which 
I  Baedeker  describes  the  'Aachen  cathe- 
!  dral,  which  came  to  my  notice  at  my 
i  first  visit  there.  My  friend,  with  stub- 
born persistence,  refused  to  i?ee  any  hu- 
mor in  it.  Finally,  when  we  mot  in 
L  epsic  in  October  1  read  the  sentence 
aloud  to  some  American  friends  and 
produced  shouts  of  laughter.  My 
friend  still  persisted  in  hia  lack  of  hu- 
mor, so  I  dared  him  to  read  the  sen- 
tence in  such  a  way  that  we  would  not 
be  compelled  to  laugh.  He  declined  the 
challenge,  so  I  suppose  there  is  enough 
chance  for  a  laugh  to  make  the  ser>- 
ten-1  e  worth  quoting:  "The  portion  ^t 
the  cathedral)  erected  by  Charlemagne 
— is  an  octagon  copied  from  San  Vitale 
at  Ravenna,  and  built  by  Master  Odo, 
48  feet  in  d;ameter,  surrounded  by  a  six- 
teen-sided ambulatory,  and  terminating 
in  a  cupola  104  feet  high."  Street 
names  are  frequently  curious,  especially 
those  of  little  streets  and  alleys  in  t'he 
old  parts  of  the  towns.  Here  are  some 
that  may  be  seen  during  a  five  minutes' 
wnlk  iaCologne,  "Under  God's  Mercy," 
4 'Under  the  He t- maker,"  "In  the  Cave," 
"Cow  Alley,"  and  "Under  the  Fat 
Hens." 

Thanksgiving  day  is  not  on  tht 
French  or  the  German  calendar  so  I 
had  no  Thanksgiving  dinner,  properly 
so-called.  I  spent  the  American  holiday 
in  Paris,  but  the  day  before  I  was  on  my 
journey  from  Cologre  to  Paris  and  hap- 
pened to  be  in  Aachen  at  the  dinner 
hour.  Treasuring  np  a  kindly  memory 


of  former  dinners  at  the  "King  of  Spain" 
I  went  around  to  see  if  h«  still  contin- 
ued his  royal  munificence  in  midday 
meals.  I  was  not  disappointed,  for  I 
enjoyed  a  hearty  meal  which,  for  this 
year,  I  think  I  shall  Consider  my  Thanks- 
giving dinner. 

So  much  by  way  of  interlude,  while 
lam  picking  tip  the  thread  of  my  narra- 
tive which  I  dropped  seven  weeks  ago. 
Yon  may  recall  that  on  Wednepday, 
August  8,  my  friend  and  I  tarried  so 
long  at  the  feast  that  we  iniaeed  the  1 
o'clock  boat  from  Cologne  and  had  to 
wait  for  the  one  at  3  Thla  time  we  were 
on  band  at  the  appointed  hour  and  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  Bonn,  some  twenty 
odd  miles  up  the  river,  in  somewhat 
more  than  the  >  chednled  time  of  two  »nd 
three  quarters  hours  At  Ithaca  thera  is 
a  certain  very  ordinary  and  uninterest- 
ing stream  known  officially  as  the  Cay- 
uga  Lake  Inlet,  but  more  popularly  as 
the  Rhine.  The  appropriateness  of  the 
name  I  never  doubted,  but  jast  how  it 
happened  I  never  understood  till  I  saw 
the  original  Rhine  from  Cologne  to 
Bonn.  Then  it  was  that  I  realized  the 
exquu-itebeautyofatrugid  stream  flow- 
ing with  many  a  useless  bend  and  turn 
between  low  banks  dotted  with  grace- 
ful smokestacks  which  rise  to  a  dizzy 
height,  lending  to  the  landscape  a 
grandeur  which  must  be  seen  on  a  day 
of  excessive  humidity  in  order  to  be 
thoroughly  appreciated.  Never  before 
did  I  so  thoroughly  realize  the  blessings 
that  nature  and  man  had  bestowed  upon 
Ithaca  in  giving  her  a  Rhine  of  her 
own.  Moral:  If  you  want  to  enjoy  the 
Rhine  don't  take  the  boat  from  Cologne 
to  Bonn.  For  a  long  distance  from  Co- 
logne, the  spires  of  the  cathedral  are  the 
one  delightful  feature  of  the  landscape, 
and  it  is  with  a  feeling  of  real  regret 
that  one  at  last  sees  them  become  min- 
gled with  the  ever  present  brick  chim- 
nies  and  thus  become  lost  to  view.  As 
one  approaches  Bonn  the  landscape  takes 
on  a  more  cheery  and  varied  aspect 
and  is  landed  in  a  happy  state  of  mind 
in  spite  of  himself.  We  had  one  spec- 
tacle, not  down  on  the  schedule.  A  very 
severe  storm  with  thunder  and  light- 


ning  followed  ns  tip  the  river  and  at 
last  broke  upon  ns,  though  we  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  be  just  on  the  edge  of 
it.  The  sight  was  a  beautiful  and  im- 

Eressive   one,  in    spite   of  the  humble 
indecape. 

I  suppose  it  behooves  me  to  say  a  few 
words  about  the  boats  on  the  Rhine. 
The  Rhine  is  not  in  America,  so  the 
service  is  not  perfect— as  it  is  in  Ger- 
many we  will  call  it  excellent.  There 
are  two  lines  of  passenger  steamers,  with 
boats  plying  "between  Rotterdam  and 
Mannheim,  the  principal  one  known  aa 
the-Du?Feldorf,  the  other  as  the  Nether 
lands.  The  latter  has  fewer  boats  and 
is  far  less  pretentious  and  not  to  be  de- 
pended npon  to  ran  on  scheduled  time, 
but  for  the  traveller  who  is  not  in  a  hurry, 
the  boats  are  less  crowded  and  the  fare 
is  cheaper.  The  Dusseklorf  Line,  which 
aloo  finds  trouble  in  keeping  within 
hailing  distance  of  its  schedule,  has  two 
miin  classes  of  b»ats;  the  express 
steamers,  which  run  only  between  Co- 
logne and  Mayence  and  make  stops  at 
only  a  few  of  the  largest  places;  and  the 
other  steamers  which  correspond  to  ac- 
commodation trains,  which  only  run  be- 
tween the  terminals  of  the  divisions  and 
make  ail  the  way  stops.  The  express 
steamers  are  in  every  way  better  boats 
and  may  be  compared  with  the  Hudson 
and  St.  Lawrence  steamers,  with  the  ad- 
vantage, I  believe,  in  favor  of  the  Amer 
ican  boats.  These  steamers  are  always 
crowded,  their  best  patrons  being  the 
tourist  companies,  like  Cook's,  who  take 
their  patrons  through  Europe  on  a  trot 
and  so  only  have  one  day  for  the  whole 
of  the  Rhine.  The  traveller  who  wants 
to  do  the  Rhine  in  a  somewhat  rnor<5 
reasonable  and  deliberate  manner  will 
find  the  second  class  of  steamers,  which 
are  not  much  inferior  in  their  accom- 
modations, much  n/ore  to  his  liking, 
for  they  are  never  crowded,  and,  as  they 
are  not  quite  so  f ?' u  as  the  express 
steamers,  they  afford  a  better  opportu- 
nity to  appreciate  the  oenery.  Then,  too, 
there  is  that  far  mort  important  consid- 
eration, they  are  cheaper.  At  all  the  prin- 
cipal places  the  steamers  have  regular 
wuarves,  but  at  some  of  the  little  way 


stations  passengers  are  conveyed  to  and 
from  the  steamer  in  awkward  looking 
rowboats.  The  current  of  the  Rhine, 
by  the  way,  is  so  rapid  that  rowboats 
for  pleasure  are  a  very  rare  sight,  at 
least  so  far  as  I  saw  the  river. 

Bonn,  like  Cologne,  dates  from 
Roman  times,  and  was  a  R,oman  mili- 
tary camp  nineteen  centimes  ago.  It 
owes  its  existence  down  to  the  present 
C3ntary,  to  those  cententioas  ministers  of 
the  gospel  of  peace  and  goodwill,  the 
archbishops  of  Cologne.  These  good 
shepherds  were  given  to  understand  by 
their  flocks,  that  the  welfare  of  their 
flocks  would  be  better  subserved  if  the 
shepherds  did  not  live  with  them,  so 
the  benevolent  gentlemen  moved  their 
residence  up  the  river  to  the  quiet,  long- 
forgotten  little  town  of  Bonn,  From 
the  arrival  of  the  first  of  these  dignita- 
ries, about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  till  the  last  of  them  WFS  driv- 
en out  by  the  French  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth,  the  history  of  Bonn  is  that 
of  the  archbishops  of  Cologne.  After 
being  thoroughly  shuffled  by  theFrench, 
the  German  cards  were  finally  dealt 
in  1815  and  Bonn  fell  to  Prussia.  Since 
that  time  prosperity  has  smiled  on  the 
town  which  has  increased  in  population 
from  7,500  to  50,000.  The  city  and  its 
vicinity  have  become  a  favorite  place  of 
resort  and  residence  for  English  visit- 
ors, and  also  for  wealthy  Germans  from 
the  great  commercial  towns  near  the 
North  Sea.  The  old  town  has  the  pro- 
verbial narrow,  crooked  streets — one  of 
them  is  called  the  Mouse  Path— and  is 
rather  dreary  but  the  new  parts  of  the 
town  have  beautiful  wide  streets  with 
nice  residences,  and  that  comparatively 
rare  thing  for  Gemany,  dooryards  with 
flowers.  TheUniversityof  Bonn  is  a  nino- 
teenth  century  creation,  though  there  did 
exist  an  older  university  for  a  few  years 
at  the  close  of  the  eightheeuth  century, 
and  though  the  dingy  old  buildings  now 
occupied  by  the  university  belong  large- 
ly to  the  eighteenth  century  when  they 
formed  the  residence  of  the  archbishop 
of  Cologne,  At  present  the  University 
has  about  2,000  students  and  boasts  of  a 
splendid  library  of  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 


lion  volumes.  Added  prestige  cornes  to 
the  university  f  rom  the  patronage  of  the 
Prussian  royal  family.  The  father  of 
the  present  Kaiser  was  educated  there, 
and  now  preparations  are  being  made 
for  the  young  Crown  Prince,  who  is  ex- 
pected to  enter  this  year.  As  a  univer- 
sity  town  Bonn  has  been  the  home  of 
some  of  the  most  famons  German  schol- 
ars of  the  present  century— scholars, 
however,  whose  names  are  known  to 
few  Americans  except  those  who  are  de- 
voted to  the  same  line  of  study.  For 
just  one  thing  is  Bonn  known  to  the 
American  of  average  intelligence.  It 
was  the  birthplace  of  Beethoven.  The 
house  where  he  was  born  in  1770  is  pre- 
served and  contains  a  museum  of  crri- 
osities  relating  to  hie  life. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JANUARY  31,  1901. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


G«  orge  M.  Duf  chor  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting: tetter. 

PARIS,  December  5,  1900. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

The  city  itself  contains  little  that 
will  interest  the  casual  visitor.  The 
old  market  place,  with  its  fomitain  and 
surrounding  buildings,  and  with  its 
throng  of  market  women  with  their 
fruits  and  vegetables,  and  with  the 
hcnsewives  and  maids  with  their  little 
haudbas-kets  selecting  the  various 
articles  for  their  day's  meals,  added 
to  the  constant  traffic  of  the  busiest 
joint  of  the  town,  presented  to  our  eyes 
the  most  vivid  picture  of  the  sort  that 
we  have  seen  Close  by  is  the  one 
building  of  real  interest  which  the 
town  possesses,  the  cathedral.  The 
building  has  been  the  growth  of  the 
past  eignt  centuries,  though  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  church  on  the  same. spot 
for  acme  eight  centuries  previous  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  structure.  So 
thoroughly  has  the  Imildiug  been  re- 


stored  during  the  last  few  years,  one 
would  fain  believe  it  now,  especially 
when  one  Bees  the  attractive  interior 
adornt  d  with  modern  mural  painting 
and  stained  glass  The  ancient  clois 
ters  adjoining  the,  cathedral,  however, 
look  jnst  as  they  have  for  seven  centu- 
ries past  and  probably  will  for  centuries 
to  come.  The  city  possesses  several  oth- 
er churches,  but  none  of  special  inter- 
est. The  new  iron  bridge  across  the 
Rhine,  with  its  fantastic  decorations,  is 
the  pride  of  the  town,  At  the  end  of 
the  bridge  is  a  monument  of  Julius 
Cassar,  erected  at  this  point,  not  be- 
cause he  built  his  infamous  bridge- 
that  terror  of  our  youthful  days— across 
the  Rhine  at  this  point,  bnt-b^cause  he 
didn't.  You  ask  me,  "Why?"  I  can 
only  answer,  "That's  the  German  of  it." 
In  the  good  old  times,  Bonn  was  forti 
tied,  for  that  was  the  fashion  then.  The 
fashion  having  changed,  the  ancient 
bulwarks  have  been  removed,  with  the 
exception  of  a  bit  on  the  river  bank, 
which  has  been  formed  into  a  little  park 
about  a  hundred  feet  directly  above  the 
river's  edge  The  Alte  Z;>11,  as  this  is 
called,  affords  a  beautiful  view,  and  the 
site  for  a  statute  of  Ernest  Maurice 
Arnett,  one  oi  Bonn's  favorite  s  ^ns.  B  :mn 
possesses  one  other  monument  to  a 
favorite  son  — Beethoven,  which  was 
unveiled  fifty- five  years  ago  by  Qneen 
Viet  oria. 

To  live  with  one's  windows  looking 
out  upon  the  Rhine,  is  a  thing  that  I 
have  dreamed  of  as  one  of  those  bits  of 
far  off  blessedness  that  seemed  impossi- 
ble of  actual  fulfilment,  bnt  here  at 
Bonn  the  genial  proprietor  of  the  Hotel 
Dig^mann  gave  UH  a  room  having  a  de- 
l'ghtful  outlook  upon  the  Rhine,  aud  as 
we  sat  at  our  evening  meal  in  the 
restaurant  we  could  look  out  of  the  win 
uow  beside  us  an'd  watch  the  erai't  ply- 
ing up  and  down  the  river,  arid  the  peo- 
ple passing  along  the  quay  or  across  the 
great  bridge  The  annual  value  of  the 
trade  carried  on  by  the  Rhine  boats 
must  reach  a  very  large  figure.  Tie 
boats  engaged  in  the  trade  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  groups:  first,  the  freight 
steamers  of  the  two  large  transportation 


companies  already  mentioned  as  con- 
trolling the  passenger  traffic;  the  sec- 
ond and  most  important  class  are  the 
canal  boats  of  which  great  numbers  are 
towed  np  and  down  the  river  by  tugs 
belonging  to  a  few  large  companies  lo- 
cat-d  chit  fly  along  the  lower  course  of 
the  Rhine;  thirdly,  the  local  boats  and 
the  odd  tramp  steamers.  These  local 
bqata  frequently  carry  both  passengers 
am  freight,  and  their  chief  business 
seems  to  be  to  supply  the  markets  of  the 
larger  towns  along  the  river.  Thus,  at 
Bonn,  we  were  awakened  in  the  morn- 
ing by  the  voices  of  many  women  chat- 
tering telow  our  window.  Ou  looking 
out,  we  discovered  that  the  landing 
place  of  one  of  these  lines  of  local  steam 
ers,  whose  headquarters  were  at  Bonn, 
was  directly  in  front  of  our  hotol,  and 
that  a  cargo  of  market-women  with 
their  fruits  and  vegetables  had  jast 
been  landed. 

Here  at  Bonn,  and  at  other  places 
along  the  Rhine,  we  were  constantly  re- 
minded of  the  President  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, aa  a  firm  bearing  his  family 
name  was  the  owner  of  one  of  the  lines 
of  tngs  rof-ntiomd  above;  and  another 
member  of  the  family  was  the  inventor 
of  a  patent  door  closer  in  frequent  use. 
Throughout  Germany  the  use  of  a  door- 
closing  device  is  far  more  general  than 
with  us.  The  familiar  door-knob  of  the 
United  States  is  conspicuous  by  its  ab 
sence,  but  is  replaced  by  a  device  oc- 
casionally to  ba  seen  in  the  United 
States,  an  instance  being  the  door  hand- 
les and  latches  of  the  stores  in  the  Hook 
er  block  in  Owego.  Germany  is  the 
home  of  mammoth  door  keys  to  need- 
lessly bulky  locks  Snap  locks  are  not 
frequent  and  the  luxury  of  a  Yale  I'-ck 
with  a  dainty  little  key  is  something 
yet  te  be  dreamed  of  in  Germany.  To 
enter  your  house  in  Germany  late  at 
night,  a  single  quarter  turn  of  tbe 
key  and  a  slain  of  the  door  is  not 
sufficient:  you  must  turn  the  key  com- 
pletely around  in  the  lock  twice 
and  often  three  times,  and  when 
you  get  inside  you  must  again  find  the 
keyhole  in  a  darkness  somewhat  like 
Egypt,  then  wait  for  the  patent  device 


to  close  the  door  (sixty  seconds)  and  then 
an  equal  number  of  turns  ef  the  key  to 
lock  the  door.  May  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury convince  our  Teutonic  friends  of 
the  merit  of  the  Yale  lock  and  key.  One 
more  oddment  should  be  told  here 
Beefsteak  and  roast  beef  seem  to  be  terms 
known  the  world  over,  though  the  spell- 
ing and  prononnciation  may  vary  a  little. 
To  call  for  either  is  a  sure  mark  of  Eng- 
lish or  American  origin,  and  the  price 
is  high  accordingly.  At  the  Dissinann 
we  called  as  usual  for  beefsteak,  at  one 
mark  fifty  pfenings;  the  genial  host  was 
standing  near  by  and  came  over  and 
said:  "Say,  you  young  fellows,  you  bet- 
ter take  rump  steak,  you  will  get  better 
meat  and  it  will  only  cost  you  one 
mark."  We  profited  by  that  bit  of  in- 
formation during  the  rest  of  our  stay  ia 
Germany. 

The  delightf  alness  of  the  vicinity  of 
Bonn  is  testified  by  the  fact  I  have  al- 
ready mentioned,  that  it  is  a  favorite 
place  of  summer  residence  not  only  for 
the  well-to  do  merchants  further  down 
thelihine,  but  even  for  many  English  peo 
pie  as  well.  We  spent  two  days  in  long 
walks  through  these  delightful  scenes 
The  first  day  we  went  up  through  the  , 
town  till  we  reached  a  broad,  beauti- 
fully shaded  boulevard  lined  with  splen- 
did residences.  This  boulevard  leading, 
straight  back  from  the  river,  we  follow- 
ed till  we  reached  an  old  chateau,  once 
a  summer  residence  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Cologne.  There  we  took  to  the  hills 
from  which  we  obtained  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  city  and  its  environs.  One 
of  these  hills  is  crowned  by  a  chapel 
also  built  by  an  Archbishop  of  Cologne 
Along  the  road  to  the  chapel  are  the 
stations  of  the  cross,  and  in  the  chapel 
itself  there  is  a  sacred  staircase,  which 
may  only  be  ascended  by  the  devout 
and  upon  the  knees.  B  rom  this  chapel 
w'e  struck  further  back  from  the  river  and 
then  crossed  a  little  valley  and  through 
woodland  paths  till  we  came  out  once 
more  on  the  crest  of  the  hills  parallel 
to  the  Rhine  and  some  distance  above 
Bonn.  At  this  point  the  daily  shower 
overtook  us.  A  lookout  tower  in  the 
neighborhood,  known  as  the  Bismark 


Tower,  furnished  us  a  place  of  refuge. 
The  aged  warden  of  the  tower  entertain- 
ed us  with  his  tale  of  woe  which  may 
or  may  not  have  been  within  forty  miles 
of  the  truth,  and  with  his  lemonade 
which  certainly  had  never  been  within 
forty  miles  of  a  lemon,  and  was,  more- 
over, of  a  color  that  suggested  Diamond 
Dyes  rather  than  something  more  natu- 
ral. After  a  time  the  rain  abated  suffi- 
ciently fcr  us  to  take  onr  leave  of  the 
ancient  worthy, who  in  the  more  roman- 
tic days  of  the  long  ago  would  nave 
been  called  a  gnome,  and  about  him 
would  have  been  wovc-n  many  a  weird 
and  mystic  tale  to  terrify  the  naughty 
children  or  delight  the  good  ones  of  the 
town  over  which  his  tower  stood  as  a 
sentinel.  One  old  gnome  gave  us  onr 
directions,  as  many  a  less  romantic 
German  has  in  the  more  recent  days  of 
our  wanderings,  •'  Oeradeaus  immer 
links.  Straight  ahead  and  keep  to  the 
left."  A  fondness  for  these  two  phrases, 
which  drop  off  a  German's  tongue  so 
easily  frequently  confuses  his  notions  of 
veracity  and  geography,  so  that  it  is 
necessary  to  assure  one's  self  that  the 
first  turn  isn't  to  the  right.  However 
this  veteran  spiait  of  the  woodland  and 
the  tower  had  told  us  correctly,  though 
for  a  long,long  while  we  were  in  serious 
doubt.  A  tramp  of  some  miles  by  paths 
more  or  less  sylvan  at  last  brought  us  in 
full  view  of  the  town  and  ancient  ruins 
of  the  castle  of  Godesberg,  picturesquely 
crowning  the  summit  of  an  isolated  hill 
overlooking  the  town.  The  clouds  still 
hung  heavy,  arid  the  darkness  was  com- 
ing on,  so  we  hastened  directly  to  the 
depot  and  were  glad  to  find  that  in  a 
few  moments  a  train  would  return  us 
to  Bonn. 

On  the  morrow  we  went  to  vitit  one 
of  the  places  sacred  to  legend  and  poetry. 

As  one  looks  up  the  Rhine  from  Co- 
logne, he  can,  on  a  clear  day,  discern 
pome  twenty-five  miles  away,  seven 
peaks,  which  have  given  the  name  of 
the  Seven  Mountains  to  a  group  of  about 
thirty  hills  five  miles  above  Bonn  on 
the  opposite  (east)  bank  of  the  river. 
The  most  famous  of  the  hills  is  one  of 


the  smallest,  bnt  the  most  picturesque, 
for  it  is  the  only  one  to  rise  direct  from 
the  river's  edge.  Of  course,  one  of  those 
charming  gentlemen  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
an  archbiship  of  Cologne,  conld  not 
overlook  this  delightful  vantage  point 
from  which  to  practice  the  Christian  vir- 
tues referred  to  in  the  sixth,  eigtb,  and 
tei-th  commandments.  So  unselfish 
were  these  good  archbishops,  that  they 
were  willing  to  share  this  splendid  op 
portnnity  for  leading  a  better  life,  with 
certain  noble  persons  known  in  poetry 
as  robber  barons  bnt  in  history  as  counts 
of  Drachenfels  for  such  was  the  name 
legend  had  given  this  hills  and  castle. 
The  counts  and  the  archbishops  have 
departed,  but  still  stands  the  ruin  of 
their  ar.cieut  castle  keeping  silent  watch 
over  the  vineyards  on  the  hill  slope,  the 
quiet  towns  at  the  foot,  and  the  great 
river  with  its  constantly  passing  boats. 
The  beauty  of  the  scene  commanded 
by  the  castle  has  be  n  made  famous  for 
all  time  by  those  beautiful  verses  in 
"Child's  Harold." 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  7,  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Du<  cher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

[CONCLUED  THIS  WEEK  ] 

We  left  Bonn  by  steamer  soon  after  9 
o'clock  and  in  about  an  hour  reached 
Konigswinter,  a  little  town  at  the  foot 
of  the  Drachenfels,  from  whence  the 
ascent  to  the  castle  was  made  easy  for 
the  practical  traveller  by  an  unromantic 
cog-wheel  railroad.  Although  I  saw 
the  Drachenfels  on  a  dark,  cloudy  day, 
I  think  I  can  safely  say  that  it  is  one  of 
the  places  that  do  not  disappoint  one, 
though  the  ruins  are  exceedingly  mea- 
ger compared  with  what  one  expects  to 
find  The  absurd  is  forever  impressing 


itself  upon  my  mind  in  improper  places, 
and  so  it  was  at  the  Drachenfels.  In 
ascending  from  the  lookout  by  the  inev- 
itable hotel,  to  the  castle,  my  attention 
was  attracted  by  the  attire  of  a  German 
woman  ahead  of  me.  The  article  that 
appeared  so  curious  I  discovered  was  a 
long  skirt  which  was  converted  into  a 
short  walking-skirt  by  means  of  a  num- 
ber of  little  elastic  affairs,  such  as  men 
wear  to  shorten  their  shirt  sleeves,  one 
end  of  each  elastic  band  was  made  fast 
about  the  waist,  while  the  clasp  at  the 
other  end  used  its  teeth  to  catch  the 
skirt  and  hold  it  at  the  desired  height. 
This  device,  whose  novelty  startled  me, 
I  later  discovered  in  frequent  use 
though  sometimes  with  a  slight  varia 
tion,  the  elastic  band  and  clasp  being 
replaced  by  a  cloth  strap  and  button  so 
that  the  skirt  was  held  up  in  some- 
what the  eame  fashion  as  the  curtain  at 
the  back  of  a  buggy  top.  The  notion  of 
taking  six  inches  off  of  the  length  of  the 
skirt  is  an  American  innovation  which 
would  shock  the  German  woman  and  is 
not  to  be  thought  of  by  her  for  at  least 
a  generation  yet. 

Well,  as  I  was  saying,  the  Drachenfels 
met  with  my  hearty  approval  if  the 
dragon's  skirt  did  not.  That  is  a  very 
wicked  pun.  Dracheiifels,  as  yon  know, 
means  dragon's  rock,  and  down  the  side 
of  the  hill  we  can  ftill  see  the  hole  which 
the  dragon— if  there  ever  was  one— in- 
habited until  the  renowned  Siegfried  ex- 
terminated him  After  lingering  as 
long  as  we  dared  in  the  dragon's  hunt- 
ing grounds,  we  set  out  to  see  some  of 
the  other  seven  mountains.  Going  di- 
rectly back  from  the  river  along  the 
slope  of  two  of  the  hills,  and  over  the 
summit  of  a  third  (the  Lohrberg)  we  en- 
tered a  beautiful  valley.  Following  the 
instinct  of  hunger  we  came  to  two 
prettily  located  little  hotels  and  stopped 
at  one  for  repairs.  .With  feelings  im- 
proved by  a  good  dinner  we  were  ready 
tor  the  ascent  of  the  highest  of  the  Sev- 
en Mountains,  the  Gross  Oelberg,  litei  al- 
ly the  Great  Mount  of  Olives.  This 
was  a  wearisome  and  not  altogether 
profitable  adventure,  for  the  view, 
taough  fine,  added  little  to  what  we  had 


already  se0n  from  other  points.  A  clear 
day  would  undoubtedly  have  revealed 
a  more  pleasing  panorama.  A  single 
little  shanty  for  the  sale  of  beer,  sand- 
wichs  and  souvenir  postal  cards,  is  all 
that  graces  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain. We  descended  rapidly  and  after 
a  long  walk  reached  and  ascended  the 
Petrusberg,  for  us  the  fourth  and  last 
<if  the  Seven  Mountains.  Like  the 
Drachenfels,  the  Petrnsberg  has  certain 
adjuncts  of  civilization,  such  as  a  hotel 
and  a  cog-wheel  railroad.  Near  the 
summit  a  path  leads  aronnd  the  hill  to 
lookouts  which  affords  pretty  views  in 
various  directions.  The  Petrusberg, 
like  many  of  the  other  hills  of  the  group, 
is  the  sight  of  extensive  quarries,  yield- 
ing basalt  And  other  stoue,  which  ia 
shipped  to  the  lower  Rhine  for  various 
uses,  especially  the  construction  of 
dykes.  In  the  valley  of  the  little  brook 
at  the  foot  of  the  Petrusberg  are  the 
ruins  of  the  ancient  abbey  of  Heister- 
bach. The  buildings  of  the  old  abbey 
were  mostly  removed  about  a  century 
ago,  but  ihe  gate  and  a  bit  of  the  choir 
of  the  church  still  remain.  Near  the 
latter,  there  has  lately  been  erected  a 
memorial  of  one  of  the  monks  of  seven 
Hundred  years  ago;  a  certain  Caesarius 
of  Heisterbach  who  wrote  some  chroni- 
cles which  might  have  served  as  a  text- 
book for  Boccaccio,  apart  from  their 
more  prosaic  value  as  historical  ma- 
terial regarding  the  life  of  the  time. 
From  Heisterbach,  another  •  tramp 
brought  us  to  the  railway  station  of 
Neider-Dollendorf,  whence  a  train  car- 
ried us  in  a  few  minutes  to  Beuel  and 
thence  a  short  walk  across  the  Rhino 
bridge  brought  us  back  to  Bonn  again 
at  dusk. 

One  final  word  and  then  I  am  done 
with  the  Seven  Mountains,  or  Siebenge- 
birge,  to  use  the  German  word.  Apart 
frt/m  similar  scattered  bits  of  mountain 
scenery  Germany  is  an  uninteresting 
country  as  far  as  landscape  goes,  except  in 
extreme  Southern  Germany  where  the 
foothills  of  the  Alps  afford  much  that  is 
delightful.  Each  of  these  bits  of  moun- 
tain scenery  is  made  thoroughly  acces- 
sible by  means  of  good  roads  and  good  i 


footpaths  with  sign  boards  to  direct  the 
traveller,  and  every  year  brings  hosts  of 
Germans  and  many  foreigners  to  see 
these  places  whose  beauty  has  been  her- 
alded abroad  and  whose  legends  have 
delighted  the  children  of  many  a  land. 
But  let  me  whisper  it  quietly,  the  Unit 
ed  States  posseses  many  and  many  a 
spot  which  with  similar  roads  and  paths 
and  a  small  amonnt  of  booming  wonld 
eoon  acquire  as  high  a  reputation  for 
beauiif  ni  scenery,  and  as  for  the  legends, 
almost  anybody  could  invent  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  years  that  would  serve 
for  the  lack  of  the  genuine  article.  The 
White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire 
and  the  Catskills  of  New  York  are,  to 
the  best  of  my  knowledge,  the  only 
things  American  that  at  present  meet 
the  German  ideal— but  no,  they  lack 
the  ruined  castles.  Let  some  noble  ho- 
tel keeper  arise  and  build  ns  some  gen 
nine  old  American  rains,  or,  at  least, 
the  ruins  of  Hendrick  Hudson's  bowl 
ing  alley  or  Rip  Van  Winkle's  bedstead 
might  be  discovered  and  exhibited  to 
the  gullible  public. 

Our  third  nigbt  in  Bonn  passed  and 
the  third  morning  arrived,  but  with  a 
sorry  prospect  for  rny  friend  who  was 
still  waiting  for  twenty-four  hours 
without  rain  so  that  it  would  be  dry 
enough  to  ride  his  wheel.  Accordingly 
we  gathered  together  our  earthly  pos 
sessions  and  the  wheel,  and  embarked 
for  Coblenz  at  9:30.  As  soon  as  we 
were  afloat  the  weather  put  on  a  happier 
countenance  and  we  had  a  pleasant  voy 
age.  The  boat  was  one  of  the  Netherlands 
Line,  and  during  a  tour  of  inspection,  I 
discovered  in  one  of  her  cabins  a  picture 
which  showed  that  even  the  Hollander 
can  appreciate  a  good  thing  then  gh  it  be  a 
vessel  in  the  American  navy.  This  high 
honor  was  awarded  to  the  Oregon.  The 
passengers  came  in  for  their  share  of  in 
spection,  My  friend  was  desirous  of 
learning  German, but  I  was  not,  so  I  at- 
tempted to  bury  myself  in  a  book,  when 
the  landscape  did  not  demand  attention, 
and  I  ordered  him  off  to  find  a  German 
Fraulein  and  practice  the  barbarous  dia- 
lect, which  he  was  desirous  of  master- 
ing. Instead  of  showing  the  proper  spirit 


in  this  matter,  my  friend  tried  to  imi- 
tate me,  to  which  I  objected, so  I  set,  oat 
in  search  of  the  Fraulein.  I  did  not  have 
to  search  far.  She  was  an  ideal  Franlein, 
neither  spoiled  with  good  looks,  nor  yet 
with  the  lack  of  them.  She  wan  neatly 
attired  in  a  black  bicycle  suit  with,  won- 
der of  wonders,  a  short  skirt.  She  spoke 
with  snapping  black  eyes  and  a  clear, 
resonant  voice  which  could  be  heard  at 
a  reasonable  distance.  Her  manner  of 
speech  made  it  necessary  for  her  to  be 
precise  and  correct  in  her  pronuncia- 
tion so  that  she  was  in  every  way  ad- 
mirably fitted  for  a  teacher,  especially 
as  she  was  able  and  willing  to  talk  in- 
cessantly. I  offered  to  introduce  my 
friend,  but  his  retiring  disposition  to- 
gether with  his  bashfnlness  led  him  to 
decline  the  honor,  so  I  stationed  him  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Fraulein  and 
waved  to  her  to  talk  on,  which  she  did. 
I  went  back  to  my  book  in  peace.  My 
friend  assures  me  that  he  only  listened 
to  the  flow  of  language  and  that  he  did 
cot  attempt  to  interrupt  it  with  honey- 
ed words  of  his  own  composition,  and  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  he  told  the 
truth  for  by-and  by  the  fraulein  disem- 
barked, mounted  her  wheel,  and  was 
gone,  without  a  single  farewell  glance 
at  her  admiring  pupil.  Thus  were  my 
best  laid  plans  brought  to  naught. 

Between  Bonn  and  Coblenz  the  Rhine 
offers  several  very  pretty  bits  of  scenery. 
The  first  is  the  Drachenfels,  of  which 
we  obtained  new  and  pleasing  views. 
A  little  further  up  the  river  two  islands 
are  passed.  One  of  them,Noun<mwerth, 
was  for  many  centuries  occupied  by  a 
nunnery.  High  up  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  opposite  the  island,  is  an  old  ruin, 
a  single  arch,  all  that  remains  of  an  an- 
cient castle,  said  to  have  been  built  by 
Roland,  and  known  as  Roland's  Arch. 
The  story  goes  that  Charlemagne's  fam 
ous  knight,  Roland  fell  in  love  with 
a  daughter  of  the  Count  of  Dachen- 
fels,  but  before  the  maarriage  could 
take  place  he  was  summoned  to  go  on 
one  of  the  king's  many  campaigns.  His 
absence  was  prolonged  far  beyond  the 
expected  time  and  rumor  came  that 
Roland  was  dead.  His  lady-love 


was  inconsolable  and  resolved  to  end 
her  days  in  the  nunnery  on  the  neigh- 
boring island.  After  a  long  time  Ro- 
land returned  to  claim  his  bride,  but 
found  she  was  forever  lost  to  him  be- 
cause of  her  vows  as  a  nun.  Roland 
then  built  this  castle  on  the  hill  over- 
looking the  island,  from  which  he  could 
catch  occasional  glimpses  of  her  he  loved. 
One  day  he  failed  to  see  her  as  usual, 
then  he  saw  a  burial  and  knew  that  she 
was  no  more.  Roland,  like  a  true  knight, 
pined  away  and  died  soon  after.  Such 
is  the  legend.  As  for  the  castle,  it  has 
been  a  ruin  for  so  many  centuries  that 
the  memory  and  records  of  man  run 
not  to  the  contrary.  For  present  day 
purposes,  suffice  it  to  say,  that  Rolan- 
dseck  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  local- 
ities along  the  Rhine  The  rest  of  the  way 
to  Coblenz,  one  finds  now  on  one  bank. 
now  on  the  other,  some  prettily  situated 
little  town,  or  once  in  a  while,  a  bit  of 
an  old  ruin,  though  they  are  far  scarcer 
than  one  would  fain  believe.  Remogen 
is,  perhaps,  the  only  other  place  worth 
mentioning  by  name  It  is  a  favorite 
resort  and  a  convenient  starting  point 
for  some  pleasant  excursions.  Conspic- 
uously located  on  the  bill  above  the 
place  is  the  modern  church  of  St.  Apol- 
linaris  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  bishop 
of  Ravenna,  and  whoee  head  is  said  to 
be  in  the  church.  For  centuries  pil- 
grimages have  been  made  to  this  local- 
ity to  visit  the  relics  of  the  saint,  which 
were  preserved  in  an  ancient  chapel  un- 
til the  present  church  was  built.  At 
Remagen  is  the  head  office  of  the  Apol- 
linaris  Company  Limited,  but  the  spring 
which  furnishes  this  famous  water  is  a 
few  miles  distant.  Oddly  enough  this 
water  which  can  be  obtained  in  almost 
any  part  of  the  civilized  world  is  almost 
impossible  to  get  in  the  neighborhood 
Later  in  the  hotel  at  Coblenz  I  remarked 
this  fact.  They  replied  that  it  could 
easily  be  had  for  the  asking  any  where 
I  promptly  ordered  a  Vo!;tle  and  met  the 
usual  reply  that  it  was  j*et  in  stock. 
Andemach  I  will  mention  later,  for  we 
visited  it  from  Coblenz.  It  is  a  little 
less  than  forty  miles  from  Bonn  to  Cob- 
lenz where  we  arrived  after  a  four  or 
five  hours'  ride.  That  is  another  story. 

Vny  Tnly  yours, 
GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


O  iv EGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  21,  1901. 

TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Du*cher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting tetter. 

PARIS,  December,  27,  1900. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

It  was  about  3  o'cloc  k  on  the  afternoon 
of  Saturday,  August  11,  when  we  found 
ourselves  located  in  Coblenz  at  the  Ho- 
tel Springer  which  oar  good  host  in 
Bonn  had  recommended  to  us.  We 
found  bnr  new  host  to  be  a  large  Ger- 
man of  forty  years,  with  pleasant  ruan- 
nersbut  lack  ing  the  genial  interest  in  his 
guests  wbich  so  delighted  us  with  our 
host  at  Bonn.  Tne  "man  of  the  h 
was  really  the  wife,  a  pretty  little  Eng- 
lish blonde,  who  took  a  mnch  more  ac- 
tive interest  in  the  management  of  the 
hotel  than  did  her  husband.  We  nego- 
tiated successfully  for  a  room  and  a 
light  breakfast  of  coiiee  and  rolls  at  a 
reasonable  rate,  and  then  went  to  ihe 
dining-room  to  appease  our  appetite, 
which  regarded  a  three  hours'  post- 
ponement of  dinner  as  quite  unreason- 
able. Oar  appetites  were  appeased 
but  cm-  pocket-books  were  aronsed 
thereby,  so  that  in  the  future  we  gener- 
ally found  it  much  more  agreeable  to 
our  parses  and  nolesasoto  our  appetites 
to  take  our  midday  and  evening  meals 
at  a  little  hotel  restaurant  not  far  away,  ! 
known  as  the  Maiwald.  This  was  a 
very  rude,  ill-mannered  thing  to 
veritable  treason  in  the  eye*  of  land- 
lords, which  in  mai^y  places  is  pnmshvd 
by  an  addition  of  from  twenty-five  to 
fifty  per  cent,  to  the  price  of  ths  rocii'S. 
bnt  Herr  Springer  allowed  our  breach 
of  etiquette  to  pas-snnrioticed. 

"Beautiful  for  situation"  is  the  popu 
lar  verdict  in  regard  to  Coblenz.  and  it 
was  and  is  a  keen  disappointment  to 
me,  not  to  be  able  to  give  the  verdict 
my  unqualified  endorsement,  for  I  fee! 
"bat  it  would  be  the  rigfct  thing-to  do 


I  suppose  that  I  had  my  notions  too 
high  and  that  I  did  not  get  ov^r  the  dis- 
appointment i.-f  not  finding  them  real- 
ized; and  I  have  a  puspiciori  that  were 
I  to  revisit  the  place  I  si  on  d  find  my- 
self an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  its  beau- 
ties. The  city  is  sitnated  on  the  south- 
western and  smaller  angle  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  Moselle  (in  German, 
Mosel)  with  the  Rhine.  This  corner  of 
land  occupied  by  the  city  is  nearly  level 
arid  I  should  think,  never  more  than 
fifty  feet  above  the  normal  water-level, 
bm  to  the  southwest  the  hills  rise  to  the 
height  of  several  hundred  feet  leaving 
but  a  narrow  strip  of  low  land  along 
rhe  bank  of  each  river.  On  the  north 
bank  of  the  Moselle  are  the  two  sub- 
urbs of  Lulzei- Cobles z  and  Neuendorf. 
Directiy  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Mo- 
dtlle,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rhine 
rites  abruptly  a  hill  crowned  by  the 
fortress  of  Ebrenbreitstein.  while  the 
town  of  that  name  tucks  itself  away  in  a 
little  valley  at  the  loot  of  the  hill  At 
the  base  of- the  Astersteir,  the  next  hill 
to  the  south  of  Ehrenbreitstein.  and  ex- 
tending along  the  Rhine  is  the  suburbof 
Pfaffendcrf .  A  mile  and  a  half  further  up 
the  east  bank  of  the  Rhine  isHorcbheim 
aitd  about  two  miles  beyond  that  town, 
the  pretty  little  river  Lahn  empties  into 
the  Rhine  between  the  little  villages  of 
Nieder  Labnstein  aad  Ober  Lahnstein. 
So  much  for  the  geography  which  ha^ 
caused  the  little  history  that  the  city 
has  to  its  credit.  The  n?ime  of  the  town 
is  a  cnrrnplion  of  the  latin  word  Con 
fiat-Hies,  the  Confidence  or  Junction,  the 
name  given  to  the  Roman  settlement 
at  junction  of  the  Moselle  and  the 
Rhino.  The  town  survived  through 
centuries  with  a  tale  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity mingled  with  wars  and  sieges, 
not  very  nnlike  that  of  other  towns  of 
the  Rhineland.  It  was  not,  however, 
until  a  few  years  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  French  Revolution,  that  Coblenz 
outgrew  the  little  town  stretching  along 
the  bank  of  the  Moselle.  The  last 
Elector- Archbishop  of  Treves  selected 
Coblerz  as  his  residence,  atd  erected  a 
a  large  palace  on  the  bank  of  the  Rhine 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  above 


the  month  of  "the  Mczelle.  The  land  to 
>rth  and  west,  between  his  palace 
and  the  old  town,  he  laid  ont  in  regular 
blocks  with  wide  streets.  The  days  of 
prosperity  were  soon  numbered,  and 
OobJenz,  like  Bonn  and  Cologne,  passed 
a  score  of  years  under  French  rule  be- 
fore becoming  permanently  incorporated 
into  the  kingdom  of  Prussia  During 
the  fifties,  Prince  William,  of  Prussia, 
afterwards  the  G-erman  Emperor,  occu- 
pied the  old  electoral  palace  while  act- 
ing as  military  governor  of  the  province 
His  wife,  afterwards  the  Empress  Au 
gusta  regularly  resided  here  a  part  of 
<aoh  spring  and  autarnn  and  took  an 
active  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
town  until  her  death  in  1870. 

Some  one  with  a  keen  sense  of  the  fit- 
n  'PS  of  things,  conceived  the  happy  idea 
of  erecting,  on  the  little  low-lying  point 
of  land  just  at  the  continence  of  the  two 
great  rivers  of  western  Germany,  a  mas- 
sive memorial  to  the  fl.-st  German  Em- 
peror, especially  as  the  old  kaiser  had 
frequently  resided  in  the  vicinity.  The 
land  on  the  point  was  all  raised  to  the 
the  same  level  and  made  secure  by  mas- 
sive stone  embankments  along  both  the 
Rhine  and  the  Moeelle.  On  the  little 
plain  two  or  three  hundred  feet  back 
from  the  point,  rises  the  massive  stone 
foundation  supporting  the  pedeatal,  on 
.  which  is  placed  the  colossal  equestrian 
statue  of  the  Emperor,  accompanied  by 
a  fecaale  figure  offering  him  tl  e  laurel- 
wreathed  imperial  crown.  The  impos- 
ing size  of  the  whole  may  be  imagined 
from  the  height  of  this  latter  figure, 
which  is  thirty  feet,  while  tba<"  of  the 
Emperor  is  forty- five  feet.  Baedeker 
says,  "This  is  one  of  the  most  impres- 
sive  purely  personal  monuments  in  the 
world,  and  dominates  the  landscape  in 
all  direction;''  and  Baedeker  knows. 
The  massiveness  and  simplicity  of  the 
monument  added  to  the  wonderful  ap- 
propriatene^s  and  charm  of  its  situa- 
tion make  it  one  of  the  things  that 
stand  out  c'early  in  one's  mind,  after 
many  another  thing  of  perhaps  even 
greater  merit  and  iujp  >rtance  has  been 
lost  iu  the  general  haise  of  things  seen. 


Back  of  this  noble  memorial  to  the 
venerable  Kaiser,  there  extends  along 
the  b*nk  of  the  Rhine  as  far  as  the  pal- 
ace, the  broad  and  bnsy  qnay  which  is 
continued  for  at  least  a  mile  and  a  half 
southward  by  the  delightfnl  Rhine 
Promenade,  laid  out  nnder  the  direction 
of  the  Empress  Augusta,  in  whose  hon- 
or a  monument  in  white  marble  has 
HI  ace  been  erected.  Another  monument 
ivcalis  the  enthusiastic  welcome  accord- 
ed by  the  people  of  Coblenz  to  King 
William  and  Qieen  Aqgusta  immediate- 
ly hf ;.er  the  oeclaration  of  war  in  July. 
1870.  On  some  of  the  buildings  along 
the  quay  are  records  of  high  water  the 
highest  and  oldest  of  which  dates  back 
jaat250  years.  West  of  the  promenade 
and  south  of  the  old  town  has  grown  up 
in  recent  years  a  large,  well-built  resi- 
dential quarter.  This  beautiful  public 
walk  along  the  Rhine  and  the  fine  resi- 
dences adjoining,  have  few  rivals  in 
Germany  for  beauty  of  situation  and 
attractiveness  of  surroundings.  There 
are  here  a  large  number  of  residences 
occupied  by  single  families  a  thing 
in  itself  unusual  and  a  mark  of  luxury; 
but  this  is  not  all,  that  other  American 
luxury,  a  door  yard,  surrounds  the 
house,  adding  the  fragrance  of  the  rose 
to  the  delights  of  the  eye.  Each  yard  is 
separated  from  its  neighbors  and  from 
the  street  by  a  high  fence  of  stone  and 
iron.  The  doorlell  is  on  the  post  of  the 
front  gate,  and  is  usually  accompanied 
by  the  neat  little  sign.  ''Beggars  and 
agents  not  admitted  Apparently 
America  is  not  the  only  country  ac 
quainted  with  the  woes  and  tribula- 
tions of  the  book  agent  and  the  light- 
ning-rod man  not  to  mention  that  other 
jjuight  of  the  road,  who  is  dignified  with 
the  splendid  name  of  tramp. 

The  chief  relics  of  former  centuries 
are,  of  course,  in  the  narrow,  crooked 
streets  of  the  old  town  along  the  Mo- 
selle, and  include  two  churches  of  the 
twefth  century,  one  of  the  fifteenth, 
and  a  few  other  buildings  of  no  great 
importance.  Of  the  eighteenth  century, 
the  most  important  survival  is  the  pal- 
ace which  was  completed  in  1786,  and 
occupied  for  eight  years  by  the  Elector 


of  Treves;  and  later,  in  the  nineteenth 
century  at  various  times  between  1850 
and  1890  the  home  of  the  old  Kaiser  and 
his  wife.  Besides  the  monuments  al- 
ready mentioned,  there  are  several  oth- 
ers, of  which  the  most  important  is  that 
to  General  von  G-oeben,  one  of  the  lead- 
ers in  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870, 
who  died  while  commandant  at  Cob- 
-Jenz.  A  more  interesting  monument  is 
one,  erected  in  1812,  by  the  last  French 
prefect  to  commemorate  Napoleon's 
Russian  campaign  in  1812,  which  re- 
ceived this  added  inscription  a  little 
over  a  year  later,  "Seen  and  approved 
by  the  Russian  commandant  of  the  city 
of  Coblenz  on  January  1,  1814  "  Bridges 
are  the  only  other  sights  which  Coblenz 
affords.  Of  these,  the  oldest  by  several 
centuries  is  the  highway  bridge  across 
the  Moselle.  The  second  Moselle  bridge 
is  used  by  the  railroad,  as  is  also  the 
uppermost  of  the  Rhine  bridges,  which 
is  at  the  end  of  the  Rhine  Promenade, 
and  leads  to  Horchheim  on  the  east 
bank.  The  other  two  also  across  the 
Rhine,  the  bridge  of  boats  to  Ehren- 
breitstein,  and  the  former  railroad 
bridge  now  used  for  the  highway  to 
Pfaffendorf.  The  bridge  of  boats  is 
picturesque  and  interesting  to  Ameri- 
can eyes,  but  the  others  in  stone  and 
iron  are  splendid  and  durable  monu- 
ments of  the  bridge  builder's  art. 

This  elaborate  description  of  the  few 
attractions  of  Coblenz  will  undoubtedly 
make  you  wonder  why  I  should  have 
spent  ten  days  there  when  there  are  so 
many    more  attractive  places  where  I 
might  have  found  so  much  more  4o  en- 
joy.   My    chief    reason    was  that    my 
friend   wished   to  settle  there  for  six 
weeks  to  learn   the  German   language, 
aud  we  wanted  to  be  together  until  he 
was  safely  settled  in  a  satisfactory  Ger- 
!  man  family.     The  other  was  that  Cob- 
';  leriz  is  a  very  convenient  headquarters 
I  for  excursions  to  attractive  and  inter- 
esting localities  in  every  direction. 

On  the  afternoon  of  our  arrival,  as 
soon  as  we  had  gratified  the  longings  of 
our  appetites,  we  searched  out  our  bank- 
ers and  satisfied  desires  no  less  keen,  for 
letters.  Then  we  investigated  at  length 


the  monument  to  Kaiser  Wilhelm,  and 
the  other  sights  of  the  town,  and  fin- 
ished off  with  a  walk  along  the  Rhine 
Promenade,  and  by  the  footpath 
across  the  railroad  bridge  to  Horch 
heim,  and  back  along  the  east  bank  of 
the  river  to  Pfaffendorf,  and  across 
that  bridge  to  our  hotel.  After  supper 
we  started  out  once  more  to  walk  about 
town  and  enjoy  the  delightful  cool  of 
the  evening,  after  the  hot  afternoon.  In 
thtf  course  of  this  walk  I  investigated 
eagerly  as  usual  the  windows  of  the 
men's  furnishing  stores,  and  at  last  was 
rewarded  by  finding  a  collar  that  ap 
proximated  what  my  American  tastes 
demanded  and  I  invested  forthwith. 
If  you  don't  care  what  kind  of  a  collar 
or  necktie,  or  cuffs  you  wear,  you  can, 
of  course,  get  what  you  want  very 
reidily  over  here,  but  if  you  have  re- 
fined American  tastes,  it  is  a  difficult 
and  expensive  undertaking  to  purchase 
these  little  articles  of  masculine  attire 
in  Europe  and  even  then  you  don't  get 
Ivory  soap  but  something  *•  j  ust  as  good. " 
So  do  as  I  did  not,  bring  along  a  liberal 
supply  of  i-ba  things  you  want,  so  that 
you  ca7j  "refuse  all  substitutes."  On 
our  return  to  the  hotel  we  went  into  the 
restaurant  to  get  some  mineral  water 
ito  drink,  and  an  English  paper  to  read. 
The  English  papers  were  not  to  be  found 
on  the  rack,  and,  in  looking  aronnd  for 
them,  I  discovered  a  French  paper  lying 
on  a  table  near  me.  The  table  was 
occupied  by  a  single  person,  a  young 
man  of  about  my  own  age,  attired  in 
a  German  uniform.  I  concluded 
that  a  German  soldier  could  have  no 
use  for  a  French  newspaper,  so  I  seated 
ray  self  at  the  table  and  began  to  read. 
The  soldier  sipped  his  beer,  and,  after  a 
minute  or  two,  addressed  me  in  French 
greatly  to  my  surprise.  By  this  time 
my  friend  had  contented  himself  with  a 
German  paper  and  seated  himself  be- 
side me,  and  I  interpreted  the  conversa- 
tion to  him.  But  directly,  discovering 
that  my  friend  understood  German,  tbe 
young  soldier  talked  to  us  alternately  in 
i^rriuch  and  German,  occasionally  run- 
ning in  an  English  word  when  he  found 
we  did  not  understand  the  German  or 


iis  polyglot    fHHhioii  wo 

MIIH  inter 

Hi.    who,  ;M  ho    told 

f.ars  in  t h»< 

"Hph    corps       In    tlif 

ilained 

why  1m  hud  had  the  I<Y<  rich  p. .per,  and 

d  and  bad 

pointH  of  the(Jerman  and  l'Ye<ich  newH- 
•)  told  me,  with  DO  little 

pride,  that,  centnrieH  ago  a  mcml- 

his  family  had  been  JMI  Archbinhop  of 
rbnry,  un<l  I  recalled  at,  once  that 
had  been  an  Archbishop  who  pro- 

MMunc<-<!  i  Ijiou, 

M  the  Hpr'llin^  was  dilTerent. 

|  cn\  •: 


OWEGO  TIMES 

:FEJJ:HUAIIY  28,  IDOI 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


M.  HIIM-IKT  VVrH«:H  .Anoth<:r 


•!<.] 

Sunday  dawn«:d  bright  and  hot.     We 
in    the  morni-ir,    a    German 
ICfi  for  tl;<    lir-  1.  tit:;' 

the  at'ttirnoon   we  met  OL^  of  the  • 

at    tlio  <[\iay    and  !r 
minnie  chat  with  1  ; 
whom  we  had  met  on    1h<;  Phoeir, 

ya^n  ov(;r,  who  were  LOW  on  their 
way  from  Col 

On    Monday     while  my    friend   i 

i   }'i>r  a  German  family   who 

i  take  him  in,  1  studied  guidebooks 

and  time-tables  and  planned  my  trip  for 

;HXt  five  weekH.     In  the   aUernoon 

tticient  time  from  onr  r- 
tive   <  pay  a   viflit  to   the 

forrre.rH    of  Khn-nb'  •  The  hill, 

on  the^fiHt  hank  oft  he  Rhineoppot-i 
month  of  tlie  Moselle  '"ptly  from 

t,,  and  from  a  little 
.Mi  and  east.  Nature 

marked  thin  npot  fur  a  military  Htrong- 
hold.  aud  Hnch  it  has  ij^en  ever  Hinc.e 
history  han  be-  n  able  to  tell  rts  abont  it 


The  present  fortress,  erected  by  t 
Prussian  government  about  eighty  years 
ago,  certainly  cannot  claim  to  enhance 
the  beauty  or  romance  of  the  landscape. 
A  fifteen-minute  climb  brings  one  to 
'  the  entrance  where  tickets  are  issued  at 
a  charge  of  fifty  pfennings  (twelve  cts  ) 
and  a  sergeant  is  "detailed  to  escort  the 
visitor  to  the  parade  ground  inside. 
Three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  below  us 
flowed  the  Rhine  and  the  Moselle,  sep- 
arating Cobleiiz  from  its  various  sub- 
urbs. As  far  as  the  clouds  and  haze 
would  permit  us  to  see,  stretched  a 
beautiful  landscape.  Ehrenbreitstein 
was  probably  the  greatest  disappoint- 
ment of  my  whole  trip  Of  its  grand- 
eur and  beauty  I  had  heard  and  read  for 
years,  and  I  had  a  vivid  picture  in  my 
•  ue  place  that  I  was  going  to 
admir"  so  much.  Try  as  I  would,  I 
con! .":  jot  grit  over  feeling  how  tame 
and  insignificant  it  was  compared  with 
the  line  picture  my  imagination  had 
painted,  and.  as  though  that  was  not 
enough,  the  clouds  and  the  haze  had  to 
veil  the  landscape  so  that  we  could  see 
only  two  or  three  miles  and  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  view  was  justly  re- 
nowned. 

Tuesday  morning  my  friend  started 
to  wheel  to  Mayence,  where  he  was  to 
arrive  on  the  following  day  and  meet  a 
friend  with  whom  he  was  to  "do"  May- 
ence, and  then  return  by  steamer  on 
Thursday  while  his  friend  went  on  to 
Cologne  In  the  meantime  I  was  to 
make  some  of  my  side  trips  from  Cob 
lenz.  The  hills"southwe*t  of  the  city 
was  the  first  attraction.  I  climbed  the 
nearest  of  these,  the  Karthanse,  passing 
the  barracks,  drill  grounds  and  rifle 
range,  and  then  up  through  the  woods 
to  the  snmmit  of  the  Knhkoff  (Cow's 
Head)  a  thousand  feet  above  Coblenz  and 
the  highest  point  in  the  vicinty.  Here 
once  more  a  splendid  panorama  was 
spread  out  at  my  feet,  but  I  could  not 
see  it  because  of  the  haziness  of  the 
atmosphere,  which  was  much  worse 
than  on  the  previous  afternoon.  De- 
|  scending  towards  the  Rhine.  I  reached 
i  in  about  a  half  hour  the  Dommelberg, 
|  one  of  the  hills  rising  directly  from  the 


river  of  which  it  commands  a  pretty 
view.  Then  turning  my  steps  towards 
Coblenz,  a  short  walk  brought  me  to 
the  Rittersturz,  which  is  like  its  neigh- 
bor, the  Dommelberg,  but  has  the  added 
attraction  of  a  carriage  road,  a  restau 
rant  and  other  evidences  of  civilization 
to  draw  the  public.  Then  I  crossed  the 
little  valley  of  the  Laubback,  entered 
Coblenz  at  the  extreme  southern  end 
and  after  another  two  miles'  walk  was 
back  at  my  hotel  once  more.  The  ram- 
ble was  a  most  delightful  one  though 
taken  all  alone,  and  though  the  atmos- 
phere was  not  clear  enough  for  me  to 
enjoy  the  views  which  were  said  to  ex- 
ist. 

It  was  a  much  more  ambitious  pedes- 
trian trip  which  I  undertook  the  nest 
day.  Starting  out  immediately  after 
my  breakfast  of  coffee  and  rolls,  I 
crossed  the  Rhine  to  Pfaffendorf,  passed 
through  the  town  of  Ehrenbreit  stein 


np  hill  climb  of  two.  or 
three  miles.  The  summit  of  this  bin  is 
crowned  by  the  pretty  little  town  of 
Arenberg,  which  I  found  was  famous 
for  its  chnrrh,  which  has  been  during 
the  last  thirty  years  a  pilgrimage  shrine 
visited  by  the  faithful  Catholics  for 
miles  aronnd.  Accordingly  I  turned 
aside  for  five  minutes  to  take  a  pe£p  at 
it,  but  I  tarried  an  hour,  for  I  found 
guides  conducting  parties  through  the 
grounds  adjoining  the  church,  to  visit 
the  various  little  chapels  and  lesser 
shrines,  so  I  attached  myself  to  one  of 
the  parties.  Each  of  these  chapels  and 
shrines  represents  some  event  in  the 
history  of  Christ  or  of  the  Church,  in  e 
a  very  realistic  manner,  and  every 
thing  possible  is  done  to  heighten  the 
impressive  effect  upon  the  piously  in- 
clined. In  one  of  the  chapels,  there  is 
a  reproduction  of  the  home  at  Nazaratb 
with  the  carpenter  shop  and  the  other 
rooms  fitted  out  as  nearly  as  possible 
like  the  original.  In  others  are  repre 
seated  various  scenes  from  the  Pas- 
sion; and  at  other  points  are  repre 
sented  the  grotto  and  miraculous  spring 
at  Lourdes,  scenes  from  the  life  of  St. 
,  Francis,  St.  Anthony  preaching  to  the 
1  fishes,  and  other  things  of  a  similar  na- 


ture.  The  stone  church  itself  is  a  taste- 
ful little  structure.  The  interior,  in 
stead  of  being  finished  in  the  usual  fash- 
ion in  stone  and  plaster,  is  finished  with 
a  plaster  preparation  which  is  thickly 
set  with  small  bits  of  quartz,  exhibiting 
a'l  sorts  of  rock  crystals.  The  effect  is 
novel  aad  pleasing,  and  is  heightened 
by  the  well  executed  mural  paintings 
and  •  '  i  glass.  The  little  chapels 
and  ,-'.  ;-mes  already  mentioned  are 
built  in  the  same  style  and  of  the  same 
material  as  the  church.  The  history  of 
the  origin  and  growth  of  this  place  is 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  Loardes, 
though  Arenberg  cannot  boast  of  a 
vision  like  Bernadettes,  nor  of  cures 
wrought  like  those  at  the  miraculous 
spring  at  Lourdes.  As  at  L.ourdes,  so 
at  Arenberg,  the  conception  and  the  de- 
velopment "of  the  pilgrimage  shrine  is 
due  very  largely  to  the  untiring  labors 
of  a  faithful  priest  who  planned  the 
buildings  and  surroundings,  secured 
the  funds,  and  carried  out  the  plans 
Nearby  in  the  little  church  yard,  i? 
pointed  out  the  last  resting-place  of  this 
holy  man.  Though  in  themselves  and 
in  their  history  the  two  places  are  not 
so  unlike,  yet  the  one  is  situated  among 
the  Gascons  and  the  other  among  the 
Germans,  and  the  difference  of  charac- 
ter of  the  two  peoples  may  ba  clearly 
seen  at  these  holy  places. 

Passing  on  from  the  church,  I  lin- 
gered a  few  moments  to  enjoy  the  beau- 
tiful view  of  the  surrounding  country, 
and  then  hastened  on  toward  Ems,  a 
journey  of  about  an  hour  and  a  half. 
Distances  in  Germany  are  popularly 
reckoned  in  hours  and  quarter  hours 
A  quarter  of  an  hour  may,  for  conven- 
ience, be  considered  equivalent  to  one 
mile,  though  the  German  is  not  apt  to 
walk  more  than  three  miles  an  hour, 
while  an  American  with  eqnal  assiduity 
can  cover  more  than  four.  So  when  you 
are  told  that  your  destination  is  five 
quarters  of  an  hour  away  you  can  reas 
onably  expect  to  reach  it  within  an 
hour.  For  hills  a  liberal  allowance  is 
made,  and  a  person  accustomel  to 
climb  the  hills  of  Ithaca  has  no  trouble 
whatever  in  distancing  all  German  com 


petitors.  As  far  as  possible  in  walking 
tonrs  it  is  wise  to  keep  on  the  chaussee, 
that  is  the  main  road  or  "pike,"  or  else 
on  well-trodden  or  well-kept  paths  dis 
tinctly  marked  with  signboards  erected 
by  responsible  parties,  and  never  taken 
a  path  marked  "The  Nearest  Way  to 
Blanktown,  Schenck's  restaurant,  one 
quarter  hour  away,"  for  the  said  path  is 
the  nearest  way  to  nothing  bat  Schenck's 
restaurant  and  probably  is  the  way  to 
nowhere  else.  Sometime  before  reaching 
Ems  one  obtains  a  fine  view  of  the  valley 
of  the  Lahn,  with  Ems  crowded  in  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill  below.  The  river  is 
about  like  Owego  Creek  but  more  pic- 
turesque because  of  the  high  hills  on 
either  bank.  Ems  has  been  known  for 
two  thoasand  years  but  its  greatness  is 
quite  modern.  The  original  sanitarium 
is  only  about  a  century  old  and  the 
town  owes  its  fame  to  the  patronage  of 
the  Old  Kaiser  who  visited  it  frequently, 
and,  it  will  be  remembered,  it  was  there 
in  July  1870,  that  he  refused  to  comply 
with  the  demands  made  by  Count  Bene- 
detti  in  behalf  of  Napoleon  III  thus 
making  inevitable  the  declaration  of 
war  which  Napoleon  III  issued  a  few 
days  later.  Emsitself  is  a  quiet  lit- 
tle village  of  six  thousand  inhabitants 
and  without  any  attractions  whatever, 
but  in  July  and  August  of  each  year  it 
is  visited  by  more  than  ten  thousand 
people  for  the  sake  of  its  baths,  aud  be- 
cause of  the  charming  scenery  of  the 
neighborhood.  The  newer  pait  of  the 
town  consists  entirely  of  hotels,  pen- 
sions and  other  buildings  for  the  accom- 
modation of  theee  visitors.  I  did  not 
linger  an  hour  in  the  place,  but  contin- 
tinued  my  pilgrimage  to  another  town, 

which  for  me  possessed  more  of  inter- 
est. 

The  walk  up  the  Lahn  along  the  high 
road  lined  with  rows  of  frnit  trees  in- 
stead of  shade  trees  is  a  delightful  one. 
The  next  town  is  Dsusenau,  a  curious 
little  old  village  still  surrounded  with 
its  walls  and  guarded  by  its  ancient 
tower.  Here  a  little  shower  delayed 
me  a  few  minutes,  bnfc  I  was  soon  on 
the  way  once  more,  and,  before  long, 


reached  Nassau,  five  miles  above  Ems, 
on  the  Lahn.  The  little  hamlet  of  two 
thousand  inhabitants  i?  qniet  and  unin- 
teresting except  for  the  summer  visitors, 
but  on  the  hills  overlooking  the  town 
there  are  the  ruins  of  the  ancestral  cas- 
tles of  the  Dutch  royal  family  and  of 
Baron  Stein,  the  famous  Prussian  min- 
ister. The  home  of  Baron  Stein  is  in 
the  town,  and  is  still  occupied  by  one  of 
his  descendants  After  about  an  hour 
in  this  historic  locality,  I  took  the 
train  for  Coblenz  where  I  arrived  in 
time  to  do  ample  justice  to  a  hearty 
evening  meal,  for  a  bottle  of  mineral 
water  and  a  roll  had  been  the  extent  of 
my  food  supply  on  this  picnic.  Letters 
which  came  during  the  day  necessitated 
a  chang«  in  my  plans,  so  that  bright 
and  ear?y  the  next  morning,  I  was 
aboard  the  train  and  on  my  way  to  the 
oldest  city  in  Germany  for  a  two  days' 
trip  which  will  serve  as  the  beginning 
of  my  next  letter. 

Very  truly  yours, 
GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


O  iv EGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MARCH  14,  1901. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

PARIS,  February,  13,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

The  Kaiser's  people  fondly  allude  to 
the  Rhine  as  Father  Rhine,  and  many 
are  the  songs  they  sing  ana  the  legends 
they  recount  of  his  grandeur  and  great- 
ness. Father  Rhine's  oldest  daughter 
is  Mosella  (in  French  Moselle;  in  Ger 
man  Mo-sel).  She  is  a  comely  maiden, 
with  a  beauty  and  a  charm  which  was 
not  entirely  inherited  from  her  father. 
In  the  crookedness  and  deviousness  <  f 
her  ways,  also,  she  has  outdone  her 
father,  but  perhaps  this  is  to  make  up 
fors  oine  of  the  dignity  and  strength 
which  has  not  been  handed  down  to  her. 
In  these  latter  days  Father  Rhine  has 
grown  selfish,  lazy,  and,  I  fear,  even 
cowardly,  for  he  still  loves  to  hear  that 
"firm  and  true  stands  the  watch  on  the 
Rhine,''  but  he  no  longer  stands  sentinel 
over  the  Fatherland's  western  bounds, 
having  parsed  that  wearisome  task  on  to 
his  charming,  craft  daughter.  Faith- 
fully for  four  score  and  five  years  has 
Mosella  kept  the  watch,  through  sun- 
shine and  through  storm,  unsung  and 
unpraised,  simply  because  "The  Watch 
on  the  Rhine"  makes  good  poetry,  but 
"The  Watch  on  the  Mosella"  does  not. 
Sixteen  centuries  ago  as  old  Roman  is 
!  said  to  have  been  enchanted  with  Mo- 
I  sella's  charms,  and  to  have  sung  them 
I  in  long-forgotten  verse.  May  some  no- 
!  ble-hearted  Teuton  arise  to  sing  these 
charms  in  melody  that  shall  thrill  this 
and  coming  generations  ! 

Far  up  in  the  mountains  of  the  Ves- 
ges,  on  the  southwestern  boundary  of 
Germany,  less  than  two  hundred  miles 
in  a  direct  line  from  Coblenz,  the  Mo- 
selle has  its  source.  After  flowing  in 
a  somewhat  northwesterly  direction 




through  French  territory,  it  tnrns  to 
the  northeast,  and,  crossing  the  frontier 
near  Metz,  flows  for  the  latter  half  of 
its  coarse  in  the  Fatherland,  The  great 
hills  along  the  lower  part  of  the  river 
force  it  to  take  a  every  serpentine  conrse. 
The  distance  from  Treves  to  Coblenz  by 
the  railroad,  which  also  has  many  wind- 
ings, is  seventy  miles,  while  the  river 
flows  one  hnndred  and  twenty  miles 
between  these  points,  One  group  of 
hills  the  railroad  pierces  by  a  tunnel 
less  than  three  miles  in  length,  while 
the  river  calmly  flows  twelve  miles 
around.  The  hills  rise  almost  abruptly 
from  the  river's  edge  to  a  height  of  a 
thousand  or  twelve  hundred  feet,  with 
every  bit  of  their  slopes,  that  is  suffi- 
ciently open  to  the  sun,  planted  with 
vineyards;  and  the  rest  clothed  with 
the  forest.  In  order  to  better  utilize 
every  possible  bit  of  land  for  the  vine, 
the  hills  are  terraced,  the  rise  from  one 
terrace  to  the  next  being  made  by  a 
stone  wall,  built  from  the  loose  stone 
which  have  been  carefully  cleared  from 
the  ground.  The  hills,  however,  have 
not  been  the  only  recipients  of  care,  for 
the  river  is  wide  and  shallow,  and  much 
labor  has  been  expended  to  render  it 
navigable  for  the  small  craft  which 
handle  much  of  the  trade  along  the 
river.  The  same  method  has  been  em- 
ployed here  as  on  the  Meuse,  and  even 
on  the  Rhine,  but  to  a  far  greater  ex- 
tent. Dikes  of  stone  are  built  out  at 
right  angles  with  the  shore,  often  reach 
ing  half  way  across  the  river.  The  cur 
rent  of  the  stream,  thus  forced  into  a 
narrow  bed,  becomes  deep  enough  to 
make  navigation  possible.  Tnese  dikes 
are  built  at  such  distances  from  one  an- 
other as  to  render  the  current  of  suffi 
cient  depth  but  not  too  swift.  In  one 
or  two  very  shallow  places  dikes  have 
also  been  constructed  parallel  with  the 
shore,  so  that  the  river  is  practically 
canalized.  To  the  beauty  of  the  scenery 
and  the  strangeness  of  the  landscape 
the  ruins  of  many  an  ancient  castle  add 
the  atmosphere  of  antiquity  and  ro- 
mance necessary  to  make  the  Moselle 
ideally  attractive  to  the  American  trav- 
eler. There  is,  moreover,  the  crowning 


delight  that  the  American  traveler  very 
rarely  strays  into  the  valley. 

Thursday,  16th  Angnst,  waa  a  bright 
smuttier  day,  and  hot  enough  to  suit  the  i 
most  fastidious.  The  trip  from  Cob- 
lenz  to  Treves  lasted  from  9  o'clock  to 
until  12.  I  spent  my  time  enjoying  the 
scenery,  except  when  interrupted  by 
my  fellow  travelers.  These  consisted 
chiefly  of  a  very  large  German  fran  of 
thirty  odd  years  with  a  small  boy  and  a 
smaller  girl,  whom  she  kept  interested 
and  satisfied  by  producing  at  regular 
intervals  of  fifteen  minutes  from  a  small 
basket  which  she  carried  a  raw  egg  with 
a  dirty  shell,  from  which,  after  break- 
ing slightly  she  proceeded  to  extract  the 
contents  by  a  very  primitive  method, 
swallowing  so  much  of  it  as  she  did  not 
consider  necessary  for  the  further  orna- 
mentation, of  the  front  of  her  dress.  I 
haven't  yet  been  able  to  decide  whether 
she  took  the  egg  as  a  stimulant  or  as  a 
narcotic,  or,  perhaps,  as  an  anti-fat. 
At  Treves  I  had  a  brief  time  to  wait, 
and  so  engaged  my  hotel  for  the  night, 
and  left  the  little  baggage  I  had  with 
me  to  await  my  midnight  return.  An- 
other hour's  ride  brought  me  to  the  first 
object  of  my  visit— the  historic  old  city 
of  Luxemburg.  The  only  object  of 
special  interest  along  the  way  was  at 
the  little  station  of  Igel,  where  one  gets 
a  glimpse  of  an  old  Roman  monument, 
erected  as  a  family  memorial  more  than 
fifteen  centuries  ago,  and  which  is  now 
one  of  the  best  preserved  and  most 
famous  Roman  remains  in  Germany. 
My  fellow  travelers  this  time  were  a 
jolly  party  of  four  bicyclists,  two  men 
ana  their  wives,  who  kept  me  constant- 
ly amused  by  their  pranks  and  their 
language,  for  they  talked  German  and 
French  with  a  ready  indifference,  and 
one  of  them  sprinkled  in  a  bit  of  Eng- 
iish  for  my  benefit. 

Luxemburg  is  a  city  of  twenty  thous- 
and inhabitants  and  the  capital  of  the 
grand  duchy  of  Luxemburg,  a  little 
patch  of  a  thousand  square  miles  tucked 
away  in  the  corner  between  Germany, 
France  and  Belgium.  In  these  piping 
times  of  peace  we  have  forgotten  about 


this  crumb  of  empire  which  owes  its 
present  independence  to  its  former  im 
I  portance.  The  configuration  of  the 
|  country  and  especially  the  immediate 
'  vicinity  of  the  capital,  render  it  of  such 
strategic  importance  that  even  now  it 
is  necessary  for  the  peace  of  Europe  to 
forbid  its  fortification.  The  grand 
duchy  easily  holds  the  records  for  the 
greatest  number  of  changes  of  owner- 
ship. Nominally  the  grand  duke  has  a 
warranty  deed  for  his  little  country,  but 
I  suspect  it  is  only  a  quit  claim,  for  the 
warranty  deed  woulg  require  several 
volumes  if  indeed  one  could  pick  out  the 
tangled  threads  of  ownership  for  even 
the  last  half-dozen  centuries.  In  name 
the  grand-duchy  was  a  part  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  from  early  times  down 
to  the  smash  up  in  the  time  of  Napoleon, 
when  it  became  a  part  of  the  French 
Empire.  Later  it  was  a  member  of  the 
Germanic  Confederation  and  of  the 
German  Zollverein  or  Onstoms-Union 
Of  the  latter  it  is  still  a  member.  From 
1815  to  1890  the  kings  of  the  Netherlands 
were  also  grand  dukes  of  Luxemburg. 
William  the  tMrd  having  died  without 
male  heirs  in  1890,  his  kingdom  went  to 
his  little  daughter  Wilhelmina,  but  his 
grand-duchy  to  his  nearest  male  heir,  a 
distant  cousin,  who  is  now  the  oldest 
crowned  head  in  Europe.  When  Belgium 
became  independent  of  the  Netherlands 
in  1880,  part  of  tha  inhabitants  desired 
annexation  to  the  new  kingdom,  while 
others  wished  to  -retain  the  grand  duke. 
A  congress  of  the  great  powers  divided 
the  grand-duchy  giving  some  to  Belgi- 
um and  leaving  a  portion  independent 
under  the  grand  duke.  At  the  time  of 
the  war  in  1866,  between  Prussia  and 
Austria,  there  once  more  arose  the 
question  of  Luxemburg  and  once  more 
the  great  powers  had  to  assemble  in 
Congress  to  decide  on  the  issues  at  stake. 
Aa  a  result,  the  destruction  of  all  forti- 
fications in  the  grand-duchy  was  or- 
dered, and  the  independence  and  neu- 
trality of  the  country  were  guaranteed 
by  the  powers,  but  it  was  to  remain  a 
member  of  the  German  Customs  Union. 
The  people  are  of  the  Germanic  race 
but  are  thorougly  French  in  sympathies 


and  manners.  They  talk  both  French 
and  German,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it 
is  a  hodge-podge,  which  is  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other  nor  even  pidgin  Eng- 
lish. As  for  money,  it  is  French  and 
German,  that  is  accounts  are  reckoned 
in  francs|and  centimes  and  paid  in  marks 
and  pfennigs  or  vice  versa.  Whether 
Luxemburg  was  the  seat  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden  or  not,  is  open  to  debate;  but  as 
to  its  present  condition  there  is  no  ques- 
tion—it is  the  devil's  half-acre. 

"Beautiful  for  situation  is  Zion," 
"As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Je- 
rusalem," and  "A  city  that  is  set  on  a 
hill  cannot  be  hid,"  are  some  of  the 
phrases  which  immediately  come  to 
one's  mind,  as  his  eyes  gaze  upon  the 
beautiful  landscape  which  the  city  and 
its  surroundings  afford.  The  country 
is  not  exactly  hilly,  but  is,  rather,  a 
great  plateau  gouged  with  ravines.  The 
city  of  Luxemburg  is  built  at  the  inter- 
section of  three  of  these  ravines,  the 
serpentine  curves  of  which  add  still 

further  to  the  picturesque  effect.  The 
city  proper  is  situated  on  a  bit  of  the 
plateau  in  the  form  of  a  square,  three 
sides  or  which  descend  percipitously  for 
two  hundred  feet  to  the  ravines  below. 
From  one  of  the  two  free  corners  there 
projects  a  little  promontory  like  a 
thumb  and  from  the  other  free  corner 
another  promontory,  longer  and  nar- 
rower like  an  index  finger.  On  the  oth- 
er side  of  the  ravine  the  ciffs  arise  in 
equally  precipitous  fashion,  in  a  shape 
to  fit  the  corresponding  parts  of  the  city 
plateau  like  a  piece  of  dove-tailing  In 
former  days,  before  the  perfection  of 
firearms,  the  city  could  easily  have  been 
defended  with  slight  fortifications  so 
that  it  would  seem  to  have  been  almost 
impregnable  with  the  elaborate  fortifi- 
cations which  once  existed.  These  for- 
tifications were  really  the  only  sight 
the  city  possessed  outside  of  the  natural 
scenery,  and  now  for  more  than  tfhirty 
years  they  have  been  destroyed.  There 
are  a  few  odd  bits  of  ruins  of  former 
greatness  that  are  pointed  out,  includ- 
ing a  pile  of  stones  which  is  said  to 
mark  the  site  of  the  earliest  castle  of 


the  counts  of  Nassau,  the  rnlers  of  the 
city  some  centuries  ago.  The  numerous 
large  bridges  are  a  prominent  feature  of 
the  landscape.  There  are  a  few  monu- 
ments, and  an  occasional  church,  one  of 
which  is  dignified  with  the  name  of 
cathedral.  It  contains  the  tomb  of 
John,  the  blind  king  of  Bohemia,  who 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Crecy,  and 
who,  it  is  said,  furnished  the  Princes  of 
Wales  with  the  motto,  Ich  dien  (I  serve). 
The  blind  king  was  the  count  of  Lux- 
emburg (as  the  title  then  was),  and  was 
the  son  of  one  Holy  Roman  Emporer, 
and  the  father  of  another,  who  is  also 
buried  here,  A  rather  plain  looking 
building,  part  of  which  is  several  cen- 
turies old,  is  the  residence  of  the  grand 
dake.  On  the  side  of  the  town,  not 
bounded  by  a  ravine,  there  once  stood 
fortifications  which  have  now  been  re- 
placed by  a  very  pretty  public  park.  The 
better  classes  all  live  in  the  "upper 
city,"  that  is,  on  the  heights,  but  the 
mass  of  the  population  are  huddled  to- 
gether in  the  "lower  city,"  in  the  ra- 
vines. The  "lower  city"  is  the  most 
disgusting  place  I  have  yet  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing.  It  is  dirty  and  so 
are  its  people,  and  one  hurries  away  in 
fear  of  being  knocked  down  by  one  of 
the  inhabitants  or  one  of  the  microbes, 
neither  of  which  carry  around  any 
sachet  powder  in  their  pockets.  The 
verdict  in  resrard  to  Luxemburg  must 
remain,  that  all  is  beautiful  and  "only 
man  is  vile."  Across  the  ravine  on  each 
of  the  three  sides  of  the  city  are  situa- 
ted small  suburbs.  The  population  of 
the  city  is  comparatively  small  for  its 
area,  scarcely  reaching  twenty  thons- 
and. 

Without  wrenching  many  heart- 
strings I  managed  to  leave  Luxemburg 
at  about  6  o'clock.  Instead  of  return- 
ing directly  to  Treves  I  went  around 
the  other  two  sides  of  the  triangle  in 
order  to  stop  for  an  hour  or  two  at  the 
town  at  the  apex.  This  town,  of  about 
ten  thousand  inhabitants,  on  the  Mo- 
selle, forty  odd  miles  up  the  river  from 
Treves,  is  called  in  German  Dieden- 
hofen,  but  in  French  and  English,  Thi- 
oiiville.  The  inhabitants  are  chiefly 


engaged  in  manufactures,  and  th§re  is 
scarcely  anything  of  intsrest  to  see 
about  the  place.  Being  situated  close 
to  the  frontier  it  has  extensive  fortifica- 
tions, and  a  garrison  largely  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  population.  It  was 
thia  past  and  present  military  import- 
ance of  the  place  that  led  me  to  pay  it  a 
hasty  visit.  A  citizen  of  Thionville, 
who  was  known  as  Merlin  of  Thion- 
ville, to  distinguish  him  from  a  col- 
league of  the  same  name,  played  a  not 
unimportant  part  ia  the  French  revolu- 
tion, and,  like  several  other  revolution- 
ists, had  an  interesting  romance  in  his 
life.  When  a  young  fellow  at  home  he 
had  fallen  in  love  with  the  belle  of  the 
town  and  became  engaged  to  her.  Then 
he  went  away  to  complete  his  legal  edu- 
cation and  to  get  a  start  in  the  world. 
When  he  returned  to  claim  his  lady  love 
she  was  no  longer  the  belle  of  Thion- 
ville, for  her  once  handsome  face  was 
pitted  with  the  small-pox,  and  her  once 
bright  eyes  no  longer  knew  the  light. 
She  with  infinite  kindness  sent  word  to 
Merlin  releasing  him  from  his  promise. 
However  he  did  not  care  for  that,  but 
insisted  on  marrying  her.  The  mar- 
riage accordingly  took  place,  but  in  hia 
presence  she  always  wore  a  heavy  veil, 
that  he  might  ever  think  of  her  as  tha 
beautiful  girl  of  other  days.  A  daugh- 
ter of  Merlin's,  though,  I  think,  by  a  sec- 
ond marriage,  was  still  living  in  Paris 
two  or  three  years  ago,  and  may  possi- 
i  bly  be  at  this  time.  A  grief,  which  sad- 
dened her  extreme  old  age,  was  the  fact 
that  she  could  not-  see  erected  in  the 
former  home  of  her  father  a  memorial 
to  him,  for  Thionville,  no  longer  French, 
was  the  German  town  of  Diedenhofen, 
and  a  German  government  could  not 
permit  the  erection  of  a  memorial  to 
the  man  whose  greatest  deed  was  to  de- 
fend the  German  city  of  Mayence 
against  German  troops  for  several 
months.  Yet,  curiously  enough,  that 
same  government  has  permitted  to 
stand  at  Strassburg,  a  noble  monument 
to  Kleber,  who  was  one  of  Merlin's  chief 
lieutenants  at  Mayence, 

At  Thionville  I  endeavored  to  get  a 
dinner  of  some  sort,  for  my  return  to 


Treves  would  be  at  too  late  an  hoar  for 
that  purpose.  I  found  a  good  hotel  and 
ordered  a  very  simple  repast,  without 
any  trouble,  and  concluded  that  not 
more  than  three-quarters  of  an  hour 

i  was  ample  time  for  disposing  of  it  and 
for  catching  iny  train.  Bat  I  had  cal- 
culated without  the  cook.  Five  min- 
utes after  five  minutes  were  ticked  off 
by  the  unrelenting  clock,  but  no  dinner 
appeared  to  appease  my  appetite  or  iny 
wrath,  which  was  rapidly  rising.  The 
waiter  had  spotted  me  as  English,  and 
in  an  indiscreet  moment  had  tried  to 
palm  off  some  English  phrase*;  so,  pa- 
tience having  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  I 
treated  him  to  a  bit  of  invectives  in 
most  classic  English.  The  warmth  of 
my  language  produced  the  dinner  in 
short  order,  but,  unfortunately  for  me, 
it  had  to  be  disposed  of  at  a  still  more 
rapid  rate.  There  was  one  waitor  who 
received  no  tip,  a  bit  of  well-deserved 
neglect,  producing  in  him  the  same 
symptoms  as  his  neglect  had  in  me.  He 
was  the  first  waiter  to  learn  that  I  was 
brought  up  on  homoeopathic  principles 
and  knew  how  to  apply  them.  My  trip 
back  to  Treves  was  not  altogether  bliss- 
ful. Changes  in  the  occupants  of  the 
compartment  shortly  after  leaving 
Thionville  left  as  my  companions  a 
woman  of  about  fifty,  belonging  to  the 
poorer  class,  and  a  man  of  the  same  age 
and  condition  in  life,  but  something 
more  than  "half  seas  over"  in  the  ugly 
direction.  I  longed  thor  a  thorough 
mastery  of  German  colloquial  profani- 
ty, that  I  might  imprefcs  it  upon  the  old 
man  that  I  did  not  approve  of  his  be- 
havior. The  old  woman  used  a  large 
amount  of  German  colloquial,  but  she 
seems  to  have  left  out  the  profanity. 
Finally  at  a  station  we  were  able  to  at- 
tract a  guard,  who  took  the  old  gentle- 
man in  hand,  while  we  two,  who  were 
peaceably  inclined,  sought  less  dis- 
turbed places.  Such  was  my  only  real- 
ly unpleasant  experience  during  four 
months  of  travel  in  third-class  compart- 
ments on  German  railroads.  Without 
further  misadventure  I  reached  Treves 
toward  midnight,  and  promptly  sough  u 
rest  at  the  Depot  Hotel. 

j  GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MARCH  21,  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Duicher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting; letter. 

PAEIS,  February,  19,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

My  last  letter  left  me  ready  to  enjoy 
a  good  night's  rest  at  the  Bahnhof 
(Depot)  Hotel  at  Treves.  That  hotel  is 
on  the  list  of  most  approved  hotels  with 
ine^  the  charges  were  reasonable  and 
the  accommodations  satisfactory,'  a  hap- 
py corubinatiou  not  attained  so  often  as 
one  coald  wish.  In  this  oldest  town  of 
Gerniay,  and  far  from  the  beaten  path 
of  travel,  I  had  the  curious  and  unique 
experience  of  partaking  of  my  breakfast 
at  a  table  with  foar  other  guests  ol  the 
Lotvl,  every  one  of  whom  was  an  Amer- 
ican. On  arriving  at  the  hotel,  I  no- 
ticed, just  across  from  me,  a  young 
man  wearing  the  button  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  We  thr«j,e  were 
having  a  tine  time  talking  over  thmga 
and  comparing  notes,  wnen  the  other 
two  at  the  table  made  known  that  they 
were  also  American  citizens,  though  by 
birth  German  Jews.  So  we  five  talked 
on,  and  then  parted  to  go  our  respective 
ways— ships  that  pass  at  breakfast  and 
t-peak  one  another  in  passing. 

Treves  claims,  apparently  with  jus- 
tice, to  be  the  oldest  city  in  Gerinauy. 
Among  the  victims  of  Julius  Caesar  in 
his  Gallic  Wars  WHS  the  tribe  of  the 
Treveri  who  lived  along  the  Moselle. 
Later  a  colony  waa  planted  here  to 
guard  the  crossing  of  the  Moselle,  for  it 
was  at  this  point  that  the  Roman  road 
from  Bingen  on  the  Il'hme  to  Rheims 
crossed  the  Moselle.  Later  still  Treves 
became  the  seat  of  Roman  Emperors, 
and  Christian  bishops.  The  latter 
gradually  grew  in  power  and  import 
anco  and  for  many  centuries  the  Elector 
Archbishops  of  Treves  were  among  the 
greatest  d'gnitaries  and  most  powerful 


iiilers  m  the  Holy  Roman  Empire.  Like  | 
ail  it«3  German  neighbors,  Treves 
formed  part  of  JNapoJeon's  empire,  and 
in  1815  passed  10  Prussia.  Nearly  allot' 
liiefoi'iy  thousand  inhabitants  are  Cath- 
olics. T  ha  German  name  of  the  city  is 
Trier,  and,  as  frequently  is  the  case,  the 
English  laDguage  has  adopted  the 
French  form  of  the  naine. 

Treves  is  the  one  town  1  have  seen,  up 
to  this  time,  which  has  more  than  a 
single  relic  of  the  period  of  Rome's 
greatness.  The  city  has  scarcely  out- 
grown the  limits  of  Roman  times,  even 
to  day,  and  the  development  of  the  sub- 
urb at  one  corner  of  the  town  is  due 
entirely  to  the  location  of  the  railroad 
station  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
town.  There  is  still  standing,  in  excel- 
lent preservation,  one  of  the  gates  of 
tiie  Jtioman  City,  while  there  exist 
important  remains  of  the  ancient 
paiace,  baths  and  amphitheatre.  One 
ui  the  churches,  moreover  has  been  but 
little  changed  since  the  days  of  Con- 
staniine,  and  a  portion  of  the  cathedral 
can  boast  of  almost  equal  antiquity. 
Some  of  the  piers  of  tne  bridge  that 
bjre  the  old  Roman  road  across  tte  Mo- 
selle are  doing  as  laithf ul  duty  to-day  as 
they  aid  in  the  palmy  days  of  antiquity. 

The  Porto  Nigra,  or  black  Gate,  has 
seen  many  vicissitudes, and  yen  it  stands 
to-day,  with  but  slight  changes  in  ap- 
pearance and  substance,  as  it  stood 
when  a  part  of  the  fortifications  of  the 
Roman  city.  One  can  readily  detect 
where  this  or  that  bit  haa  crumbled 
away  and  been  replaced  by  new  mate- 
rials, for  the  materials  and  workman- 
ship are  quite  different  from  the  origi- 
nal. Some  where  back  in  the  middle  ages 
an  old  hermit  selected  this  gate  as  a 
charming,  and  perhaps  not  too  solitary 
spot  in  winch  to  pass  his  holy  days  and 
aie.  Somehow,  I  slightly  suspect  that  the 
old  fellow  was  more  shrewd  in  his  day 
and  generation  than  the  worldly  people 
of  Treves,  and  at  this  ionely  vantage 
point  levied  toll  on  the  sympathy  of 
many  a  market  woman,  vender  or 
tradesman  hastening  to  the  market 
place  near  by,  and  thus  lived  a  life  of 
ease  and  affluence,  that  would  have 


been  the  envy  of  bia  clients  had  they 
but  known.  Bat  the  clients,  they  never 
knew  nor  even  once  suspected, for  when,' 
at  last,  the  holy  man  ended  his  days, 
they  missed  the  opportunity  to  practice 
the  Christian-virtnes  of  charity  and  be- 
nevolence, which  he  had  so  long  afford- 
ed them.  So  the  pious  took  thought 
and  money,  and  built  around  one  end  of 
the  gate  a  church — no,  two  cuurches, 
for  one  was  not  enough  for  such  a  very, 
very  holy  man  — and  there  they  and 
their  children,  and  their  children's 
children  unto  the  ninth  generation  did 
honor  to  the  sainted  one.  Ages  after- 
ward there  arose  a  generation  who  knew 
not  Joseph,  or,  rather,  Simeon,  for  that 
waa  the  worthy's  name,  and  with  irrev- 
erent hands  destroyed  those  churches. 
A  later  generation,  which  severed  not 
hermits  but  antiquity,  effaced,  as  far  as 
possible,  every  trace  of  the  churches 
aud  restored  the  ancient  gate  to  its 
former  and  unencumbered  grandeur. 

The  old  Roman  inhabitants  had  not 
only  to  be  protected  from  the  foe  but 
also  to  be  amused,  and  provided  with 
the  means  of  burning  time.  To-day  the 
civilized  man  with  time  to  burn  resorts  j 
to  the  barber  shop,  and  with  the  aid  of  j 
the  consoling  cigar  burns  many  an  idle 
hour.  Now,  the  old  Roman  did  not 
know  that  there  was  any  such  thing  as 
a  cigar,  that  luxury  being  then  reserved 
for  the  noble  red  man  in  America. 
Moreover,  this  degenerate  race  of  Ro- 
mans did  not  know  enough  to  shave, 
as  their  wiser  fathers  had  done  before, 
but  indulged  in  the  imported  fashion  of 
wearing  full  beards.  Accordingly  it 
became  necessary  for  the  powers  that 
were  to  adopt  an  expensive  and  luxuri- 
ous device  to  cater  to  the  tastes  of  the 
man  about  town.  The  built  enormous 
and  magnificent  structures,  in  which 
were  accommodations  permitting  the 
fastidious  to  bathe  as  often  and  in  as 
many  ways  as  they  pleased,  while  still 
more  commodious  apartments  furnished 
ample  opportunity  to  avoid  passing  the 
intervals  between  bath  industriously. 
"Oleanlineps  is  next  to  godlinesr,"  and, 
oddly  enough,  both  the  bathing  fad  and 


Christianity  seein  to  bave  reached 
Treves  at  about  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine.  The  baths  which  were  erected 
here  in  the  fonrth  centnry,  were  still 
existing  in  tolerable  preservation  in  the 
seventeenth  centnry,  when  they  rapidly 
decayed,  and  about  1880  became  mate- 
rial for  the  archeologist's  spade.  Thanks 
to  the  said  spade,  one  can  now  clamber 
over  the  rains  of  the  part  that  were 
originally  below  the  ground  floor  and 
get  a  fairly  correct  notion  of  the  ground 
plan  of  the  building  and  of  the  devices 
employed  to  supply  heat  and  water. 
Among  the  crumbling  ruins,now  haunt 
ed  only  by  lizards  and  an  occasional 
curioUvS  tourist,  one  finds  no  single  trace 
to  recall  the  wealthy  idler  or  the  gay 
dandy  who  once  lorded  it  here  in  gor- 
geous apartments. 

The  baths  are  situated  close  to  the 
Moselle  bridge.  A  mile  back  from  the 
river  rises  a  pretty  vine  clad  hill,  in  the 
side  of  which  the  old  Roman  built  his 
amphitheater  eighteen  hundred  years 
ago.  Enough  still  remains  to  permit 
the  identification  of  the  various  parts  of 
the  building.  To-day  a  handful  of  boys 
play  more  or  less  peacefully  in  the  arena 
where,  sixteen  centuries  ago,  at  the  com- 
mand of  Constantine,  several  thousand 
Frank  were  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  beasts 
for  the  safety  of  the  empire  and  the 
smnsement  of  the  populace  of  Treyes 
Returning  from  the  amphitheater,  just 
at  the  entrance  of  the  town,  one  finds  a 
much  more  picturesque  ruin.  Walls 
sixty  feet  in  height  still  enclose  several 
rooms,  which  give  one  an  inkling  of 
what  the  ancient  palace  was  in  the  days 
of  its  youth,  before  the  evil  days  of  the 
Middle  Ages  had  come,  when  it  was 
converted  into  a  church,  and  later  into 
a  fortress,  and  still  later,  when  it  was 
given  over  to  time  and  neglect.  The 
best  preserved  relic  of  Roman  times  is 
the  building  which  Constantine  erected 
for  the  use  of  the  law  courts.  The 
building  is  of  large  red  bricks,  but,  in 
epite  of  numerous  changes  of  occupants 
and  occupations,  looks  as  young  and 
well  preserved  as  the  Owego  Methodist 
church,  which  it  somewhat  resembles 


in  external  appearance,  except  that  it 
has  no  steeple,  and  has  a  flatter  roof. 
Like  similar  structures  in  other  parts  of 
the  Roman  empire,  this  building  was 
called  a  basilica,  and,  like  many  other 
basilicas  "in  time  became  a  Christian 
chnrch,  though,  in  this  case,  not  until 
comparatively  recent  times. 

The  cathedral,  however,  is  the  devel- 
ment  of  another  basilica,  erected  about 
a  half  century  later,  and  almost  imme- 
diately converted  into  a  Christian 
church.  The  walls  of  the  nave  of  the 
cathedral  are  the  ^  alls  of  the  former 
basilica,  and  on  the  outside  of  the  build- 
ing one  can  trace  the  repairs  and  the 
additions  made  in  the  sixth,  eleventh, 
thirteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Externally  this  building  is  a  very  plain, 
unattractive  looking  structure.  The 
interior  is  scarcely  more  attractive, 
though  the  monuments  of  the  former 
archbishop,  and  the  decorations  of  the 
choir  and  altars,  to  some  extent  relieve 
the  barren  appearances.  In  a  little 
chapel  adjoining  the  choir  is  walled  up 

the  famous  holy  coat  of  Treves— Christ's 
coat— which  "was  without  seam,  woven 
from  the  top  throughout,"  and  for  which 
the  soldiers  cast  lots.  This  coat  is  only 
exhibited  once  or  twice  during  a  cen- 
tury, when  vast  numbers  of  pilgrims 
visit  Treves  to  view  it.  The  last  of 
these  occasions  was  in  1843,  I  think, 
though  I  have  not  the  means  at  hand  to 
ascertain  definitely.  It  most  be  observ- 
ed that  among  the  boasted  relics  at 
Lourdes  there  is  also  a  holy  coat— an 
unfortunate  case  of  mistaken  identity 
in  one  place  or  the  other,  for  it  af- 
fords a  chance  for  the  unfaithful 
to  sctff.  In  the  cathedral  treasury, 
which  was  shown  by  a  piea&ant  and  in 
teliigent  young  priesr,  there  is  an  exact 
fac-simiie  of  the  holy  coat,  the  tkulls  of 
!St.  Matthew,  and  of  Be.  Helena  the 
mother  of  Conetantine,  and  a  nail  from 
the  cross.  JSails  from  the  cross  are  a  i 
favorites  subject  for  the  one  who  scoffs 
at  relics.  This  was  the  second  I  had 
seen,  and  it  has  this  much  in  favor  of 
i  its  genuineness,  it  came  out  of  the  same 
I  keg  as  the  tirst  one.  Ifc  is  kept  in  a  beau- 


I  tifui  case  of  purple  and  gold  and  must 

not  be  toucned   by   the  hand  of  man, 

I  though  fche  priest  receives  the  rings  of 

I  the    faithi'nl    spectators     and    touches 

them   to  the  nail>and  returns  them   to 

the  owners. 

Next  door  to  the  cathedral  there  is  a 
more  modern  church  more  beautiful  both 
maide  and  outside  than  the  cathedral. 
It  was  built  in  the  thirteenth  century 
and  is  of  a  curious' form,  namely,  H  cir- 
cle intersected  by  a  cross.  The  roof  is 
supported  by  twelve  columns  on  which 
are  painted  figures  of  the  twelve  apos- 
tles There  is  a  single  stone  in  the  pave- 
ment near  the  door,  where  one  may 
stand  and  see  the  whole  twelve  apostles 
at  a  single  glance,  but;  from  no  other 
point  is  this  possible,  a  step  in  any  di- 
rection immediately  obscures  at  least 
one  of  the  twelve.  In  Treves  and  the 
suburbs  there  are  several  other  churches 
of  minor  interest.  Of  ccurse  there  are 
numerous  old  buildings  that  is  one, 
two,  or  three  hundred  years  old,  that 
will  interest  one  who  has  time  to  search 
r.bem  ont  and  study  them.  There  is  the 
usual  supply  of  monuments,  including, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  one  to  the  Old 
Kaiser.  On  the  other  bank  of  the 
Moselle,  crowning  a  hill  that  overlooks 
the  city,  there  has  been  erected  a  lofty 
monument  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  promulgation  of  the 
dogma  of  the  immaculate  conception. 

The  city  has  a  library  stocked  with 
many  an  ancient  tome  and  many  a  mus- 
ty parchment.  Some  of  these,  apart 
from  their  literary  worth,  are  splendid 
specimens  of  the  art  of  bookmafeiug  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years  past.  Tbe 
ujore  ancient  of  these  are,  of  course, 
volumes  of  parchment,  written  by  hand, 
and  beautifully  illustrated  in  brilliant 
colors  and  in  a  few  cases  with  bindings 
of  precious  metals  set  with  jewels. 
There  is  also  an  interesting  collection  of 
autograph  letters  of  great  men.  Treas- 
ures of  a  similar  sort  are  to  be  found  in 
the  largest  and  in  the  oldest  libraries  of 
Europe,  but  are,  naturally  rather  rare. 
In  contrast  with  the  dingy  old  struc- 
ture which  houses  the  library,  is  the 
line  new  building  containing  the  valu- 


able  city  museniii.  The  relics  of  the 
Roman  period  that  have  been  found  in 
the  valley  of  the  Moselle  are  mostly  col- 
lected in  this  iimseutn^as  are  also  numer- 
ous objects  illustrative  of  -the  history 
and  culture  of  the  Moselle  valley  at  other 
epochs,  One  of  my  pleasant  memories 
is  the  visit  to  the  library.  The  librarian 
was  a  fine-appearing,  well-educated 
man  who  talked  to  me  in  excellent  Eng- 
lish. He  turned  me  over  to  an  aged  at- 
tendant to  be  shown  the  treasures  of  the 
library.  He,  in  turn,  proved  to  be  by 
no  means  unlettered,  and  with  the  gar- 
rulity and  the  deliberation  of  age  dis- 
coursed to  me  on  bis  precious  books  and 
documents,  exibiting  with  equal  pride 
the  scanty  &tore  of  English  which  he 
had  accumulated— but  I  ought  not  to 
say  "tcanty,"  for  he  undoubtedly  knew 
far  more  English  than  I  knew  German. 
A  little  after  5  o'olock  I  cut  my  sight- 
seeing short  and  took  the  train  for  Cob- 
lenz.  The  trip  passed  pleasantly  and 
uneventfully  and  soon  after  8  o'clock  1 
was  back  in  my  room  at  the  Hotel 
Springer.  There  I  discovered  a  note 
telling  me  of  my  friend's  return  from 
his  visit  to  Mayence,  and  that  he  had 
found  permanent  quarters  for  himself, 
just  across  the  Rhine,  at  Pfaffendorf, 
in  the  family  of  the  widow  of  a  Ger- 
man Protestant  pastor.  He  added  to 
his  note  the  agreeable  information  that 
he  would  call  to  see  me  soon  after  9 
o'clock,  so  I  hurried  over  to  the  Mai- 
vvald  and  partook  of  such  dinner  as  my 
pocketbook  would  afford.  By  depriving 
myself  of  some  of  the  dinner  I  justly 
deserved,  and  the  waiter  of  part  of  the 
nip  which  he  justly  expected,  I  was  able 
to  meet  my  friend  with  the  flattest 
pocketbook  I  have  had  in  Europe.  Be- 
sides a  Columbian  half  dollar  received 
in  change  at  Meyer's  Hotel  in  Hoboken 
the  morning  I  sailed,  and  which  I  have 
since  carried  as  a  pocketpiece,  it  con- 
tained just  ten  pfennigs  (two  cents  and 
a  half).  Ttoe  meeting  between  my  friend 
and  myself  might  have  been  described 
HS  affecting,  in  a  more  emotional  age; 
it  certainly  was  affectionate,  for  we  had 
had  strange  and  varied  experiences  since 
our  nartinsr  a  few  days  before.  The 


next  morning  I  took  pleasure"  in  vieit- 
ing  my  banker  and  getting  money  and 
letters  to  start  me  on  fresh  ventures. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MARCH  28,  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting; Letter. 

PARIS,  March,  4,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

Under  the  most  propitious  circum- 
stances, I  take  my  pen  in  hand  to  relate 
to  you  another  chapter  of  my  adven- 
tures in  the  valley  of  the  Rhine.  It  is 
'•blue  Monday"  with  a  vengeance.  The 
sky  above  is  a  deep,  dull  gray;  the  streets 
below  would  be  described  by  the  ordi- 
nary American  as  "awful  wet  and  mud- 
dy," by  the  American  college  student  as 
"horribly  sloppy,"  and  by  the  English- 
man as  "nasty,"  and  all  the  terms  are 
appropriate;  while  in  the  middle  spaca 
there  is  rain,  which  for  Paris  may  be 
called  a  pouring  rain.  By  dint  of  the 
greatest  exertions  I  was  prepared  to  de- 
mand my  breakfast  at  half-past  nine. 
It  was,  as  usual,  one  of  those  substan- 
tial Parisian  breakfasts  of  bread  and 
cocoa.  The  very  thought  of  a  piece  of 
of  beefsteak  for  breakfast  would  give 
a  Frenchman  indigestion  for  a  month; 
add  potatoes  and  he  would  be  ill  with 
typhoid  fever  for  six  months,  and  men- 
tion pan-cakes  with  syrup  and  he  would 
forthwith  die  of  apoplexy.  Being  limit- 
ed as  to  variety,  I  make  up  in  quantity 
at  such  a  rate  that  the  good  rnadame's 
pocketbook  has  a  regular  morning  at- 
tack of  sciatica.  For  sometime  past  I 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  saving  an  ap- 

Ele  or  an  orange  from  dinner  for  a  pre- 
ice  to  my  breakfast.  One  fine  morn- 
ing madame  herself  tried  an  orange  for 
breakfast  and  was  forced  to  confess  that 
my  offense  was  a  pardonable  one.  The 
literary  part  of  breakfast  is  equally 
slim,  because  the  Parisian  idea  of  jour- 
nalism is  several  points  below  the  Ameri- 
can, and  so  atterly  removed  from  the 
ideal  as  to  be  only  ideally  bad.  The  or- 
dinary American  in  Paris  is  compelled 


to  blnsh  with  shame  at  the  Parisian  ex- 
ponent of  American  journalism— the 
Paris  edition  of  the  New  York  Herald 
Its  only  superiority  to  the  true  Parisian 
article,  is  that  it  sometimes  has  ten  lines 
of  straight  American  news,  imported 
by  the  way  of  England,  while  the  Paris 
journal  never  has  more  than  five  lines, 
and  that  is  badly  "cribbed"  from  the 
Herald,  The  result  is  that  one  must 
take  the  Herald  and  blush.  Well,  hav- 
ing consumed  the  breakfast— such  as  it 
was— literary  and  otherwise,  I  chewed 
my  toothpick  and  meditated  for  some 
minutes  on  the  solemn  fact  that  it  was 
the  4th  of  March  and  that  it  was  prob- 
ably raining  harder  in  Washington  than 
in  Paris,  therefore  I  should  be  very 
cheerful,  for  I  could  get  off  with  staying 
in  doors  and  writing  you  "another  in- 
teresting letter ;"  but  poor  William  Mc- 
Kinley  must  get  out  and  read  his  little 
7,000- word  speech,  while  "Teddy"  held 
the  umbrella  so  awkwardly  that  when 
the  water  did  not  drip  down  the  back 
of  the  Presidential  neck,  it  dripped  up- 
on the  Presidential  manuscript  and  con- 
verted the  beautifully  written  page  into 
an  unseemly  and  unintelligible  blur. 
Of  course,  "Teddy"  was  keeping  nice 
and  dry  the  while,  thinking  of  four 
years  ahead  so  strenuously  that  it  will 
be  at  least  four  years  before  the  little 
Presidential  inconveniences  will  occur 
to  his  mind. 

Having  by  this  time  worked  myself 
into  such  a  state  of  cheerfulness  that  it 
dissolved  the  clouds  into  a  half-smile 
five  hours  later,  I  sat  down  and  cogi- 
tated on  Saturday,  the  18th  of  August, 
and  remembered  that  a  good  many 
things  had  not  happened  then.  "Ted- 
dy" had  not  yet  begun  to  talk  himself 
from  Governor  to  Vice  President,  and 
had  not  experienced  several  interesting 
encounters  in  Colorado,  which  furnish- 
ed food  for  discussion  to  a  Massachu- 
setts debating  society.  Then,  too, 
many  a  long-since  renowned  football 
hero  was  living  quietly  in  the  bosom  of 
his  family  quite  unknown  to  the  sport- 
ing editor  of  the  New  York  World. 
Then  warming  up  to  my  subject  I  re- 
called that  this*, particular  August  Sat- 


nrday  was  a  hot'  day— in  fact  a  very  hot 
day  ;  so  that,  having  replenished  my  de- 
pleted pocket-book,  and  disposed  of  my 
extensive  morning  mail,  I  felt  my  daty 
done,  and  hied  me  to  a  shady  spot  on 
the  wharf  to  watch  while  the  boats 
came  and  went.  Boats  and  trains  are 
always  late  when  yon  have  lots  of  time 
to  wait  for  them— it  cultivates  patience 
and  encourages  profanity.  By  and  by, 
however,  the  proper  boat  arrived,  and 
with  a  hurried  twitch  I  disposed  of  all 
looks  of  patience  and  profanity,  and 
donned  a  cheerful  smile  to  meet  our 
-friend  as  she  walked  down  the  gang- 
plank. Our  friend  had  passed  two  years 
at  Cornell,  as  a  graduate  student  in  his- 
tory, like  ouf  selves  ;  but  she  had  antici- 
pated us  by  a  year  in  visiting  Europe, 
and  was  just  leaving  off  where  we  were 
beginning  with  the  trip  on  the  Rhine. 
After  a  mid-day  meal  we  three  bargain- 
ed with  a  cabby,  and  with  myself  as  ex- 
perienced guide  paid  a  visit  to  the  pil- 
grimage church  at  Arenberg,  which  had 
so  interested  me  a  few  days  before.  The 
past  year  had  many  things  of  interest 
for  each  of  us  to  relate,  and  time  was 
far  from  hanging  heavily  on  our  hands. 
At  set  of  sun  we  parted  to  go  our  re- 
spective ways,  our  newly-arrived  friend 
to  the  cosy  little  English  lodge,  my  fel- 
low-traveler to  his  newly-found  Ger- 
man home,  and  I  to  Hotel  Springer. 

Sunday  was  no  less  hot.  I  started  in 
the  day  by  attending  mass  at  the  fif- 
teenth-century Catholic  church,  and 
then  searched  out  the  old  school  build- 
ing in  which  a  room  had  been  fitted  up 
as  a  temporary  chapel  for  the  services 
of  the  Anglican  church,  where  I  might 
worship  in  a  language  and  a  ritual  less 
strange  to  me.  In  the  afternoon  we 
three  friends  took  a  stroll  in  the  Rhine 
promenade,  and  having  found  the  bench 
located  in  the  coolest  possible  spot,  we 
sat  ourselves  down  to  watch  the  crowds 
of  Sunday  strollers,  and  the  boats  ply- 
ing up  and  down  the  river,  and  to  con- 
tinue our  reminiscences  and  anticipa- 
tions. In  the  evening  we  two  fellows 
dined  together,  and  then  walked  over 
to  Pfaffendorf,  where  I  inspected  my 
friend's  new  home,  and  pronounced  it 


good.  Monday  morning  at  9  o'clock 
found  ns  three  friends  together  on  the 
deck  of  one  of  the  Rhine  steamers,  our 
friend  to  go  to  Cologne,  and  we  two  to 
Andernach,  whence  we  were  to  visit  the 
Laacher  See.  We  produced  a  stock  of 
souvenir  postal  cards  to  send  joint  re- 
minders to  our  common  friends  at  home, 
notably  to  onr  two  masters  at  Cornell, 
Prof.  H.  Morse  Stephens  and  Prof. 
Moses  Coit  Tyler,  whom  we  have  since 
been  called  to  monrn.  At  Andernach 
ten  or  twelve  miles  down  the  river,  we 
said  good-bye  and  bon  voyage  to  onr 
friend  and  disembarked. 

Andernach  is  a  little  town  not  much 
larger  than  Owego,  bnt  has  a  history 
reaching  back  to  Roman  times.  Its 
streets,  and  many  of  its  buildings,  as 
well  as  the  picturesque  ruins  of  its 
walls  and  castle  still  tell  us  of  the  days 
gone  by.  This  element  of  the  pictur- 
esque has  more  than  once  impressed  the 
artists,  and  views  of  Andernach  may  be 
found  in  the  picture  galleries  of  Ger- 
many. After  an  hour  spent  in  doing 
the  town  we  took  a  short  railroad,  lead- 
ing up  into  the  hills  as  far  as  the  little 
hamlet  of  Niedermendig  where  we 
stopped  long  enough  to  dine,  and  then 
went  on  by  foot  to  the  Laacher  See.  The 
most  noticeable  thing  along  the  road  are 
the  stone  mines.  The  stone  is  not  cut 
from  the  open  quarry  as  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  seeing  it  done,  but  is  mined  at 
a  depth  of  more  than  sizty  feet.  The  de- 
scent is  made  through  what  looks  like  a 
deep  well.  The  stone  is  brought  up  in 
buckets  by  a  horse  tramping  around  a 
capstan  in  the  good  old  primitive  fashion . 
The  neighboring  hills  were,  thousands 
of  years  ago,  volcanoes,  and  the  stone 
which  is  mined  ie  basaltic  lava  origina- 
ting from  these  volcanoes.  The  stone  is 
used  for  millstones,  and  for  paying  and 
building  material.  All  the  stations  and 
buildings  of  the  little  up-country  rail- 
rofcfl  by  which  we  had  traveled  are 
built  of  this  stone  and  present  a  neat 
•and  attractive  appearance  that  might 
well  be  a  cause  for  envy  and  emulation 
to  many  a  great  trunk  line.  These  stone 
mines,  which  have  been  worked  since 
Roman  times,  also  serve  the  purpose  of 


cellars  for  the  famous  brand  of  beer 
known  a8  Niedermendig.  We  did  not 
linger  long  to  examine  these  interesting 
quarries,  for  clonds  were  gathering  om- 
iiions  and  black.  We  completed  our 
three  miles  aad  a  half  to  the  hotel  at 
Laacher  See  none  too  quickly  to  escape 
the  shower.  Instead  of  having,  as  we 
bad  hoped,  plenty  of  time  to  visit  and 
enjoy  the  scenery  of  the  neighborhood, 
we  could  do  nothing  but  squander  our 
time  in  the  sitting  room  of  the  hotel  on 
the  porch.  We  had,  however,  the  satis- 
faction of  one  pretty  sight,  that  of  the 
lake  just  as  the  storm  burst  upon  it. 
Our  chances  for  sight-seeing  being 
spoiled,  we  two  and  a  young  English 
geological  student  started  out  as  soon 
as  the  shower  began  to  abate  and 
reached  Niedermendig  just  in  time  to 
catch  a  train  back  to  Andernach,  and 
another  to  Coblenz.  While  waiting  to 
make  connections  at  Andernach  I  was 
accosted  with,  "Hello,  there!  how's 
Ameriky !"  The  full,  crimson  face,  the 
alcoholic  breath,  the  glib  tongue  and 
the  bold  assurance  and  swagger  of  the 
fellow  marked  him  immediately  as 
an  American  of  foreign  extrac- 
tion who  had  seen  a  good 
deal  of  the  world  and  could  tell  all 
about  the  rest  of  it.  It  would  not  have 
taken  long  to  have  guessed  his  employ- 
ment, even  if  he  had  not  promptly  told 
it.  He  belonged  to  Barnum's  circua,  in 
fact  he  was  the  advance  agent,  which 
being  interpreted  meant  that  he  and 
two  or  three  more  of  hie  kind  were 
"billing"  the  little  country  towns  for 
the  circus.  His  ideas  of  the  Germans 
were  somewhat  novel  and  interesting, 
much  so  that  I  should  have  enjoyed  the 
views  of  some  of  the  said  Germans  of 

him.  By  the  time  our  train  arrived  he 
had  disposed  of  his  stock  of  knowledge  to 
all  the  available  persons  and  was  ready 
to  conquer  other  worlds,  so  he  took 
another  compartment  in  the  train  and 
we  wept  not. 

Tuesday  morning  was  much  cooler, 
but  did  not  promise  an  especially  fine 
day,  yet  it  proved  one  of  the  best  of  the 
summer,  a  perfect  day  for  a  trip  up  the 
Rhine.  I  was  astir  betimes,  packed  my 


grips,  ate  an  extra  slice  of  bread  and 
honey,  and  drank  an  extra  cup  of  choc- 
olate, then  bade  farewell  to  Hotel 
Springer,  and  bestowed  myself  and  my 
belongings  on  the  steamer.  My  friend 
was  to  remain  in  his  German  home  at 
Pfaffendorf  to  acquire  proficiency  in  the 
German  tongne,  while  I,  who  disdained 
lingnistic  accomplishments,  was  to 
tra^  el  on  up  the  Rhine  and  through 
Switzerland  to  Mnnich,  and  thence  to 
Leipsic.  There  we  were  to  meet  on 
October  15,  and  pass  a  week  with  onr 
friend  who  had  made  the  voyage  with 
ns,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Hamburg, 
while  we  landed  at  Cherbourg.  For  me 
it  was  to  be  a  period  of  constant  change 
with  the  excitement  and  pleasure  of 
seeing  things  strange  and  interesting  ; 
but  for  him  it  meant  a  quiet,  lonely  ex- 
istence in  surroundings  which  might  or 
might  not  be  pleasant.  Our  parting 
was,  I  am  sure,  the  most  homesick  mo- 
ment that  my  friend  has  had  in  Europe, 
and  I  guess  it  was  the  same  with  me. 
That,  however,  does  not  say  that  we 
were,  or  have  been,  homesick  ;  we  have 
both  been  having  too  good  a  time  for- 
that,  though  there  have  been  many 
times  when  we  would  gladly  have  taken 
a  five  minutes— perhaps  a  quarter  of  an 
hour— peep  at  home  and  Ithaca.  So 
with  a  hearty  handshake,  and  a  wave 
of  the  hat,  and  all  the  smiles  we  could 
muster,  we  faced  our  respective  ways — 
to  meet  again  happier  and  wiser. 
Yours  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


WEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  2,  1901. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting Letter. 

PARIS,  March  6,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

The  legions  and  the  tales  of  the  Rhine- 
land,  and  the  fame  of  its  scenery  have 
led  us  to  believe  every  mile  of  its  length 
picturesque  and  romantic.  The  trnth, 
at  least  as  far  as  my  experience  goes,  is 
qnite  otherwise.  With  the  exception 
of  a  half  dozen  miles  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Drackenfels  and  the  thirty- 
eight  and  one.- half  miles  from  the 
month  of  the  Moselle  at  Coblenz  to  the 
month  of  the  Nahe  at  Bingen,  the  sce- 
nery ifl  monotonous  and  uninteresting, 
the  flavor  of  romance  is  lacking.  These 
exempted  forty-five  miles,  however,  are 
a  perfect  del\ferht  to  the  lover  of  nature, 
of  myth,  and  of  history.  One  could 
readily  pick  out  equal  distance  on  Amer- 
ican rivers,  just  as  beautiful,  jnst  as 
rich  in  legend,  and  just  as  important  in 
history,  but  they  lack  one  thing,  the 
charm  of  age  which  one  can  feel  only 
to  a  limited  degree  in  America,  a  paltry 
three  centuries  instead  of  two  milleni 
urns.  Bub  even  antiquity  is  relative, 
for  the  Tiber  counts  its  three  milleni- 
uins,  the  Jordan  and  the  Ilissns  four, 
while  the  Euphrates,  the  Ganges  and 
the  Yang-tse-Kiang  date  their  histories 
back  so  far  that  man  knoweth  not  the 
number  of  their  inilleniums.  So  the 
New  Yorker  and  the  Canadian  may 
count  the  three  centuries  of  their  Hud 
son  and  St  Lawrence  with  the  same 
justifiable  pride  as  theRhinelander  does 
his  two  milleniutns.  The  story  of  Rip 
van  Winkle  will  continue  to  charm 
generation  after  generation  of  Ameri- 
can? Just  as  that  of  Bishop  Hatto  and  the 
Mouse  Tower  entertains  age  after  age 
of  Germans.  West  Point  and  Quebec 
are  as  charming  as  Ehrenbreitstein  and 


for  the  American  have  &11  the  historical 
importance  that  the  great  fortress  above 
Coblenz  has  for  the  Fatherland. 

That  day  in  Angnst  was  perfectly  fit- 
ted for  a  trip  through  those  delightful 
scenes  that  have  been  the  pride  of  Ger- 
many for  ages.  The  sky  was  of  a  deep 
dull  bine,  checkered  with  clond  after 
cloud,  so  that  it  was  seldom  that  the 
sun's  rays  beat  upon  ns  with  unbroken 
force.  The  air  was  perfectly  clear  and 
every  bit  of  the  landscape  stood  forth 
in  its  fall  glory.  A  strong  breeze  made 
the  air  really  cold  on  the  boat's  deck, so  I 
donned  my  mackintosh,  turned  the  collar 
well  up  about  my  ears,  and  pulled  my 
cap  down  over  my  eyes,  and  then,  with 
a  pair  of  gloves,  I  was  ready  to  settle 
down  in  my  chair  at  the  bow  with  my 
Baedeker  and  map  to  take  in  every  bit 
I  could  of  the  panorama  passing  before 
me. 

The  bridge  of  boats  opened  to  let  us 
through,  then  we  passed  under  thePfaf- 
fendorf  bridge  and  caught  a  last  glimpse 
of  the  Rhine  promenade  and  Ehren- 
breitstein,  then  under  the  Horchheim 
railroad  bridge.  The  old  scenes  had 
passed  from  view  and  new  ones  de- 
manded all  the  attention.  [That  trick- 
sy maiden— Fortune— is  always  bring- 
ing about  curious  coincidences.  Just  as 
I  finished  the  last  sentence,  alluding  to 
my  parting  frcin  my  friend  at  Coblenz, 
I  received  a  letter  from  him  in  Berlin, 
and  have  replied  to  it,  arranging  to 
meet  him,  shortly,  for  a  visit  to  Italy. 
Once  more,  ''this  is  a  little  world." 
Well,  there  still  remains  enough  of  the 
evening  to  continue  the  voyage  on  the 
Rhine].  In  Prussia,  and  the  Rhine  is 
Prussian  from  the  Dutch  frontier  to 
Bingen,  one  cannot  go  far  without  reck- 
oning with  the  Kaiser  in  one  way  or 
another.  Just  to  our  left,  on  the  west 
bank  is  the  little  town  of  Capellen  at 
the  foot  of  a  hill  on  which  rises  the  cas- 
tle of  Stolzenfels,  a  private  estate  be- 
longing to  the  Kaiser.  For  five  cen- 
turies it  was  a  stronghold  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Treves,  until  the  French  de- 
stroyed it  in  1 089.  After  being  a  ruin 
for  a  century  and  half,  it  was  presented 
to  Frederick  William  IV,  who  had  it 


restored  by  the  most  fatnons  architects 
of  the  period.     Since  then  it  has  been 

•rivate  property  of  the  Ki< 
Prussia.  Like  all  the  Prussian  palaces, 
when  the  royal  family  is  not  in  resi- 
dence, it  may  be  visited  on  paying  the 
trifling  fee  of  twenty-five  pfennigs  (six 
and  one-quarter  cents).  Stolzenfels  is 
the  pride  of  all  the  region  round,  and  is 
visited  by  large  numbers  every  summer. 
Just  across  the  river  is  the  mouth  of  the 
Lahn  with  Niederlahnstein  below, 
and  Oberlahnstein  above.  The  lat- 
ter is  an  old  town  of  seven  thousand 
people,  and  contains  a  castle  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  On  the  height 
above  the  town  is  another  castle  a  cen- 
tnry  and  a  half  old<-T,  destroyed  by  the 
French  in  1689,  and  recently  restored. 

In  a  few  moments  one  just  catches  a 
glimpse,  on  the  west  bank,  of  the  Kon- 
igsstuhl,  or  king's  seat,  the  official  meet- 
ing place  of  the  seven  Elector's  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire  for  choosing  th^ 
Emperors.  Within  a  mile  of  this  point 
the  territories  of  the  three  ecclesiastical 
electors,  the  Archbishops  of  Cologne, 
Treves  and  Mayence,  met;  and  twenty 
miles  up  the  river  began  the  territories 
of  the  Elector  Palatine.  At  this  lone 
structure  on  the  river  bank  has  been 
enacted  more  than  one  scene  in  the 
drama  of  German  history,  Rhens,  just 
up  the  river  from  the  Konigsstuhl,  be- 
longed to  the  Archbishops  of  Cologne, 
who,  six  centuries  ago,  built  the  walls 
which  still  surround  the  town.  A  lit- 
tle further  along  on  the  east  bank  is 
Brauback,  an  old  town  of  two  thousand 
inhabitants  The  castle  of  Marksburg, 
which  overlooks  the  town,  is  almost  the 
only  one  along  the  Rhine  which  es- 
caped the  fury  of  the  French  in  1689. 
Twelve  miles  above  Coblenz,  on  the 
west  bank,  isBoppard  with  a  population 
of  six  thousand.  This  town  antedates 
even  tho  Roman  period,  and  still  pre- 
serves some  remains  of  its  Roman  walls. 
It  has  a  church  of  the  twelfth  century, 
and  another  church  and  a  castle  of  the 
Archbishops  of  Trevee  dating  from  the 
fourteenth  century.  Along  the  Rhine 
and  the  Moselle  and  a  few  miles  back 
from  the  rivers  there  are  numerous 


pleasantly  situated  little  towns,  like 
Boppard,  with  goo^hotel  accomm^da- 
tions  at  reasonable  rates,  and  it  seems 
to  me  one  might  pass  a  very  delightful 
summer  qnietly  and  cheaply  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Rhine,  with  a  week  here  and 
a  week  there  and  the  next  one  some- 
where else,  and  from  each  place  make 
the  little  pedestrian  tonrs  to  the  local 
places  of  interest.  Of  course  these  hotels 
are  not  like  those  of  the  big  snnimer 
resorts  whether  in  America  or  Europe, 
and  the  towns  are  quiet,  dead  little 
places.  In  these  towns  one  can  live  for 
a  little  more  than  a  dollar  a  day,  and 
for  two  dollars  can  have  the  best  the 
town  affords,  whereas  in  the  large 
towns  where  the  tourists  regularly  stop, 
the  prices  start  at  two  dollars  and  end 
at  infinity. 

[Well,  I  muat  insert  another  bracket 
to  explain  the  vicissitudes  of  this  let- 
ter. Three  weeks  have  passed  since  I 
penned  the  above  lines.  I  have  left 
Paris,  and  been  back  to  Munich  "where 
my  friend  and  I  met  and  arranged  oth- 
er details  of  our  Itallian  trip.  Then  I 
left  my  frien$  at  Munich  while  I  went 
on  to  Salzburg  and  Vienna,  and  finally 
back  to  Innsbruck,  where  I  again  met 
my  friend,  and  to-day  we  have  jour- 
neyed over  the  Brenner  pass  and  down 
to  Verona  together.  Here  we  are  seated 
in  a  little  old  Itallian  restaurant,  after 
dinner,  and  listening  to  native  fiddle 
and  song  for  the  first  time.  I  don't 
know  what  its  all  about,  but  it  has  a 
strain  of  melancholy  in  it  and  might  be 
"Way  back  in  old  Owego."] 

On  the  opposite  bank,  two  miles  above 
Boppard,  is  an  old  convent,  back  of 
which  ri  es  a  hill  crowned  with  two 
castles  known  as  the  Brothers.  Their 
story  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  of 
the  Rhinelands.  In  Liefenstein,  one  of 
the  castles,  lived  an  old  knight  with 
two  sons,  both  of  whom  were  deeply  in 
love  with  their  foster  sister,  Hildegard. 
Henry  joined  the  crusade  aud  generous- 
ly left  Hildegard  to  his  brother  Conrad, 
for  whom  the  old  knight  built  Stenen- 
berg,  the  second  castle.  Later  Conrad, 
too,  longed  for  the  heroic  and  romantic 
life  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  joined  the 


crusade,  leaving  Hildegard  to  a  lonely 
life.  Conrad,  finally,  returned  with  a 
beautiful  Grecian  bride,  and  the  heart- 
broken Hildegard  sought  the  deepest 
seclusion.  One  day  an  unknown  knight 
appeared  at  the  castle  to  demand  hospi- 
tality, but  when  he  heard  Hildegard's 
story*,  prepared  to  avenge  his  brother's 
unfaithfulness.  But  before  the  two 
brothers  could  meet  in  single  combat, 
Hildegard  interposed  and  reconciled 
them,  and  then  retired  to  the  convent 
in  the  valley  below.  The  Grecian  bride 
soon  proved  fickle,  and  Conrad  threw 
himself  upon  his  brother's  generosity, 
and  henceforth  Stenenberg  was  aban- 
doned and  the  two  brothers  lived  to- 
gether in  the  ancestral  castle  of  Lieben- 
stein.  All  that  history  tells  us  is  that 
the  the  two  castles  have  stood  there  for 
more  than  seven  centuries.  Five  miles 
further  on  is  another  ruined  castle  call- 
ed the  Mouse,  in  derision  by  the  knights 
of  another  castle  a  little  further  on,  who 
called  their  stronghold  the  Cat. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  stands 
the  Cat  lies  St.  Goarshausen,  wit  1,500 
people,  while  across  on  the  west  bank 
is  St.  Goar,  a  little  larger  town,  with 
the  old  castle  of  Rheinfels.  These  two 
towns  owe  their  their  names  to  St.  Goar, 
the  traditional  missionary  in  this  region, 
fifteen  centuries  since.  This  point  is 
undoubtedly  the  most  attractive  on  the 
Rhine,  and  only  a  mile  beyond  is  that 
great  rock  dear  to  the  heart  of  every  • 
German,  and  made  forever  famons,  the  - 
world  around,  by  Heine's  beautiful 
lyric— the  Lorelei,  Thin  is  the  most 
rugged  and  picturesque  of  the  hills 
along  the  Rhine  and  rises  abruptly  from 
the  water's  edge  to  a  height  of  over 
four  hundred  feet.  This,  too,  is  the 
narrowest  point  in  the  course  of  the 
Rhine  below  the  Lake  of  Constance 
and  so  the  current  is  rapid  and  deep, 
and  thus  it  has  happened  that  many 
a  weird  and  melancholy  tale  has  been 
told  of  the  pitiless  siren  of  the  cliff. 
Further  up  stream,  the  next  town  is 
Oberwesel,  with  its  castle  in  which  the 
famous  Marshal  Schonberg  was  born. 
Naturally  the  castle  fell  victim  to 
French  vengeance  in  1689,  but  is  now 


the  property  of  a  family  of  New  York- 
ers named  Rhinelamler.  Caub,  the  next 
station,  was  the  place  at  which  Mar- 
shal Blncher  crossed  the  Rhine  and  in- 
vaded Napoleon's  empire  on  December 
31,  1813,  Of  course  the  town  is  com- 
manded by  a  castle,  or  in  this  case  by 
two.  Bacharach,  the  next  town,  has 
ancient  walla,  chnrch,  castle,  and  repu- 
tation for  wine.  Furstenberg  once 
claimed  as  master  the  nerviest  of  the 
robber  barons,  for  he  actually  stopped 
an  Emperor  on  his  way  to  coronation 
and  exacted  toll.  Opposite  is  Lorch, 
with  2,100  people  and  1,100  years  of  his- 
tory. Several  ex  robber  castles  follow, 
the  most  interesting  of  which  is  Rhein- 
stein,  which  became  the  property  of  a 
Prussian  prince  and  has  been  restored 
to  all  its  mediaeval  strength  and  splen- 
dor. It  is  now  open  to  visitors  and  is 
well  worth  the  visit,  as  I  discovered  a 
few  days  later.  Nearly  opposite  is  Aa- 
smannshansen,  famous  for  its  wine  and 
its  mineral  water.  Beyond  the  town 
rises  the  hill  known  as  the  Niederwald, 
around  which  the  Rhine  turns  at  right 
angles.  The  hill  is  .sarmonuted  by  a 
beautiful  and  conspicuous  Germania 
monument— a  sort  of  embodiment  of 
the  Watch  on  the  Rhine.  The  slopes 
of  the  Niederwald  are  covered  with 
vineyards,  notably  those  of  the  Rudes- 
heirn,  at  the  southeast.  In  the  river 
just  before  it  turns  around  the  Nieder- 
wald  is  a  little  island  on  which  is  lo- 
cated the  famous  Mouse  tower,  whose 
legend  Southey  has  embodied  in  verse. 
Tnis  is  the  one  point  on  tne  lower  Rhine 
where  navigation  is  really  dangerous, 
and  this  tower  seems  to  have  been  erect- 
ed for  lights  and  signals. 

Opposite  the  Niederwald,  on  the  west 
bank,  we  have  Bingen  above  and  Bin- 

fsrbruck  below  the  mouth  of  the  Nahe. 
he  waters  of  the  Nahe  are  of  a  deep, 
red  brown,  and  for  several  miles  discol- 
or the  Rhine  along  its  west  bank.  B'air 
Bingen  on  the  Rhine  is  pleasantly  situ- 
ated, and  back  of  it  arise  hills  crowned 
with  important  looking  buildings.  The 
city  numbers  bnt  8,000  people.  The 
nineteen  miles  from  Bingen  to  Mayence 
is  through  a  comparatelv  level  country 


and  of  little  scenic  interest,  though  it 
is  is  pleasant  and  offers  a  few  things  q| 
architectural  and  historic  interest.  Bie- 
brich,  the  port  of  Wiesbaden,  is  the 
most  important  town  between  Coblenz 
and  Mayence. 

Mayence  a  most  parallels  the  history 
of  Treves  and  is  not  greatly  unlike  it. 
I  reached  there  on  the  evening-of  the 
21st  of  August,  at  about  six  o'clock,  and 
remained  there  till  the  25th,  interspers- 
ing the  seeing  of  the  city  with  a  trip  to 
Bingen  to  visit  Rheinstein  and  the  Nei- 
derwald,  and  another  to  Wiesbaden  to 
see  the  famous  and  beautiful  watering 
place,  which  was  once  the  home  of  a 
well-known  Owegoan.  From  Mayence 
I  went  to  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  the 
largest  town  in  the  valley  of  the  Rhine 
above  Cologne.  Then  a  few  hours  at 
Darmstadt  and  on  to  Heidelberg,  fa- 
mous for  its  old  castle  and  and  its  uni- 
versity. The  next  day  took  me  to  Mann- 
heim, whence  I  visited  Worms  and 
Spires,  famous  in  the  hiatory  of  Luther. 
My  next  move  was  to  Carlsrnhe,  the 
capital  of  Baden,  and  then  to  Baden- 
Baden,  the  ancient  capital  and  the  mod- 
ern resort.  Two  days  followed  at  Strass- 
bnrg,  the  capital  of  Aisace.  Then  I 
hurried  on  by  Colmar,  Alt  Breisach  and 
Freiburg  to  Basle. 

In  Switzerland  I  spent  thirteen  days, 
visiting,  after  Basle,  Berne,  Interlaken, 
Lauterbrunnen,  Grindelwald,  Lucerne 
and  Zurich.  The  three  days  from  Basle 
to  my  return  to  Interlakeu  from  Grin- 
delwald were  as  perfect  as  the  heart  of 
man  could  desire,  and  all  by  my  lone- 
some I  was  supremely  happy.  At  Zu- 
rich I  met  American  friends,  and,  for 
the  first  time  in  over  three  weeks,  could 
carry  on  conversation  with  people  whose 
native  tongue  was  the  same  as  mine — 
then,  for  once,  the  "tranquil"  Dutcher, 
as  I  have  come  to  be  known,  talked 
loquaciously.  After  five  days  at  Zurich, 
where  I  also  had  the  pleasure  of  meet- 
ing Bishop  Vincent,  I  visited  the  Falls 
of  the  Rhine,  near  Schaffhausen,  which, 
in  American  eyes,  are  a  very  humble  af- 
fair. Then  an  hour  at  Schaffhau- 
sen,  and  another  at  Constance,  crogsing 
the  Lake  of  Constance  to  Lindau— a 
rather  long  day. 


After  a  night  at  Lindau  I  went  di- 
rectly to  Munich,  where  I  arrived  on 
the  18th  of  September,  and  settled  down 
for  a  three  week's  stay,  daring  v;hica  I 
met  several  friends  and  went  with  three 
of  them  to  Oberammergau.  The  visit 
to  this  little  country  town  was  a  most 
delightful  one  and  the  Passion  Play  is 
something  long  to  be  remembered. 
From  Munich  I  also  made  a  side  trip  to 
Augsburg,  Ulm  and  Stuttgart,  and 
then  went  on  by  the  way  of  Ratisbon, 
Nuremburg,  and  Bamberg  to  Leipsic, 
where  I  rejoined  my  friend  on  the  night 
of  Monday,  October  15th.  There  we 
sp£nt  a  week  with  our  companion  on 
the  voyage  over,  and  paid  visits  to  the 
battle-fields  of  Leipsic  and  Lutzeu 
where  Gnstavus  Adolphus  was  killed. 
Once  more  we  parted,  my  friend  going 
to  Berlin,  while  I  went  on  a  four  day's 
trip  in  which  I  visited  Jena,  Weimar, 
Gotha,  Eisenach,  Messeberg  and  Halle. 
After  a  night  in  Leipsic,  I  went  on  to 
Dresden  for  a  week,  returning  by  the 
way  of  Meissen,  where  Dresden  china  is 
made,  to  Leipsic  again.  I  made  a  stop 
of  a  few  hours  at  Wittenberg  on  my 
way  to  Berlin,  where  I  spent  three 
weeks  with  my  friend.  Short  stops,  at 
Brunswick,  Hanover,  Hildesheim,  Got- 
tingen  and  Cassel,  brought  me  back,  as 
I  have  already  related,  by  the  way  of 
Cologne  and  Aix-la  Chapelle  to  Paris. 
It  was  just  becoming  Thanksgiving 
day  when  I  arrived  in  Paris,  where  I 
stsyed  for  three  months  and  a  half,  at- 
tending lectures,  studying  a  little, 
learning  a  little  French  and  doing  a 
good  deal  of  sight-seeing.  From  Paris 
I  made  brief  excursions  to  St.  Denisj, 
St  Germain  en-Laye  and  Versailles. 

At  10:10  P.  M.  March  13,  1901,  I  left 
Paris,  and,  after  a  twenty  one  hours' 
journey,  was  back  in  the  city  of  my  de- 
light—Munich, where  I  was  joined 
about  an  hour  later  by  my  friend  who 
had  come  from  bis  winter  in  Berlin. 
There  I  spent  two  nights  and  a  day  with 
him,  revisiting  the  things  that  had 
afforded  me  so  much  pleasure  six  months 
before.  I  also  had  the  pleasure  of  visit- 
ing the  studio  of  Lenbach,  the  famous 
portrait  painter  and  friend  of  Bismarck, 


about  whom  there  is  an  interesting  arti- 
cle in  a  recent  number  (February,  I 
think)  of  Harper's  .Monthly.  There  was 
one  other  pleasure  before  bidding  Mu- 
nich goodby— we  wont  to  the  Court 
Theatre  to  see  Schiller's  Jung f ran  von 
Orleans,  which  was  splendidly  given. 
Later,  we  went  to  the  Cafe  Luithfold, 
which  the  Munchener's  boast  is  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  world,  and  so  it  is, 
and  it  has  yet  another  virtue,  low  pri- 
cea  There  we  drank  our  cocoa  and 
completed  the  plans  which  we  are  now 
.1  rying  out  of  that,  next  time, 
Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  BUTCHER. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  9,  1901. 

TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting better. 

BOLOGNA,  April  3,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir : 

From  the  Rhine  country  to  Vienna  is 
a  long  leap  geographically,  bat  a  longer 
one  in  time,  and  a  still  longer  one  men- 
tally, for  me.  In  the  seven  months  that 
elapsed  between  my  arrival  at  Mayence 
on  August  21,  1900,  and  my  departure 
from  Paris  on  March  13,  1901,  I  had 
travelled  more  than  in  all  my  life  before, 
and  had  seen,  beard  and  learned  more 
than  in  any  two  or  three  years  of  my 
life.  Travelling  and  sight-seeing  de- 
mand every  bit  of  physical  and  mental 
effort  that  one  can  put  forth,  but  at  the 
same  time  they  strengthen  and  develop 
both  mind  >md  body,  ar»d  make  them 
capable  of  aull  further  effort  When  I 
reached  Paris  at  the  end  of  November, 
I  was  not  at  all  tired,  bat  thoroughly 
glad  that  I  was  not  going  to  move  again 
for  three  months;  and  in  March,  when  I 
left  Paris,  I  was  weary  and  did  not 
want  to  Btart  out-  Yet  now  that  I  am 
on  the  road  I  am  feeling  splendidly  and 
am  jnst  as  eager  as  can  be  imagined  to 
keep  moving  and  seeing  new  things.  I 
sometimes  wonder  how  it  will  seem  to 
come  back  to  little  Owego  with  no 
grand  boulevards,  no  ancient  buildings, 
DO  art  galleries,  and  none  of  the  dozens 
of  things  which  are  so  delightful  and 
interesting  to  me  here,  I  atii  sure  it  will 
be  at  least  a  little  bit  strange. 

I  left  Paris,  as  I  have  already  said,  i~  \ 
search  of  pastures  new  and   ventures 
strange  at  10:10  P.  M  ,  on  March  13.  A"*  j 
far  as  the  frontier,  I   traveled   second 
class,  so  that  I  might  get  a  reasonable 
chance  to  sleep.     At  Deutsch-Avricour<  1 
I  was  turned  out  at  five  o'clock   to  pa&e  ; 
the    German      customs      examinatior    i 
which  was  readily  done.     Then  I   b\ii  \ 


my  morning  coffee,  or  more  correctly 
chickory,  and  rolls  at  the  station  restau 
rant  and  clambered  into  a  third  class 
carriage  for  the  rest  of  my  journey.  I 
promptly  fonnd  myself  talking  with 
two  old  Alsatian  women  and  a  yonng 
fe-low  from  Constantinople.  On  learning 
that  I  was  from  America  one  old  woman 
hastened  to  tell  me  that  h*r  son  was  a 
baker  in  Minneapolis.  '  Taen  yonr  son 
is  rich  V"'  said  the  Constantiuopolitan, 
in  a  half  query,  which  applied  that  all 
Americans  were  rich,  This  remark  he 
proceeded  to  amplify  by  informing  the 
old  lady  that  the  Americans  became 
rich  rapidly  because  they  took  a  cold 
bath  every  morning.  He  turned  to  me 
for  approval,  which  I  promptly  gave, 
regarding  the  slight  stretching  of  the 
truth  as  a  small  matter  compared  with 
the  loss  of  national  prestige  that  would 
follow  upon  any  qualification  of  the 
statement  which  was  at  least  good 
enough  to  be  true.  I  also  made  a  men- 
tal note  to  the  effect  that  the  converse 
was  true,  at  any  rate  1  did  not  succeed 
in  getting  a  cold  bath  every  morning 
over  here,  and  I  am  getting  poor  at  a 
rate  that  is  perfectly  startling.  Between 
the  youth  from  Constantinople  and  the 
March  McClure's,  I  managed  to  while 
away  the  long  hours  until  7:10  P.  M., 
when  we  pulled  into  Munich. 

I  went  directly  to  the  boarding  house 
where  1  had  stayed  last  September.  The 
good  Fran  was  delighted  to  see  me,  and, 
in  reply  to  my  question  whether  she  had 
a  room  for  me,  said,  "Why,  you  have 
stayed  with  me  once,  of  course  you  can 
have  a  room."  As  I  have  already  writ- 
ten, my  friend  arrived  from  Berlin  an 
hour  later,  and  we  passed  two  nights 
and  a  day  together  in  Munich.  On  the 
morning  of  Saturday,  I  had  to  be  up  be- 
fore the  sun  and  leave  at  6:46,  but  I  car- 
ried with  me  the  pleasantest  memories 
that  I  have  of  any  European  city. 

It  was  11:20  when  we  crossed  the 
boundary  of  Austria  and  stopped  at 
Salzburg.  After  rushing  through  the 
customs  house,!  started  out  to  make  the 
best  of  my  brief  stay  in  the  city.  This 
town  of  nearly  thirty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants lies  on  both  banks  of  the  Salzach, 


a  tributary  of  the  Inn,  which,  in  turn, is 
a  tributary  of  the  Danube.  For  centuries 
it  was  the  capital  and  seat  of  a  Prince- 
Bishop, who  ruled  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, and  at  the  same  time  looked  after 
the  ppiritual  welfare  of  his  subjects. 
Since  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  Salz- 
burg has  belonged  to  Austria.  The  town 
owes  its  ft. me"  chiefly  to  its  beautiful 
situation,  which  rivals  that  of  the  most 
picturesque  German  town«,  such  as 
Heidelberg  and  Baden-Baden.  On  every 
side  the  town  is  hemmed  in  by  high  hills 
crowned  with  ancient  castles  or  mon- 
asteries; and  through  the  city  and 
among  the  hills  winds  the  little  river. 
Its  other  gr^at  claim  to  fame  is  as  the 
birthplace  of  Mozart.  In  the  town  it- 
self there  is  little  to  gee,  the  chief  places 
of  interest  being  the  old  churches.  The 
real  sights  are  the  views  from  the  hills, 
none  of  which  I  had  time  to  ascend,  but 
what  I  could  see  from  the  town  itself, 
assured  me  of  the  pictureequeness  of  the 
scenery. 

From  Salzburg  to  Vienna  is  195  miles, 
and  took  me  from  2:23  to  9:15.  The  trip 
was  without  special  incident,  though  I 
was  busy  observing  a  new  country  and 
a  new  nationality  and  making  mental 
notes  about  Austria's  third  class  carri- 
ages. As  I  learned  by  experience  one 
may  travel  almost  as  comfortably  third 
class  as  second,  or  one  may  travel  third- 
class  aa  uncomfortably  as  fourth-class 
in  Germany.  The  point  is  that  the  third- 
class  carriages  consist  of  two  distinct 
halves;  one-half  consisting  of  two  or 
three  compartments,  each  accommodat- 
ing in  theory  eight  persons, but  in  actual 
practice  only  two  or  three;  the  remain- 
der of  the  carriage  i*  one  large  compart 
ment,  which  is  generally  filled  to  the 
limit  with  the  very  poor  classes  and 
those  traveling  a  short  distance.  The 
smaller  compartments  are  apt  to  be 
locked  and  a  small  fee  to  the  conductor 
opens  one  of  them  for  yon  and  closes  it 
to  all  others.  Sometimes  one  is  lucky 
enough  to  find  a  compartment  open  and 
unoccupied,  then  possession  is  nine 
points  of  the  law  and  you  proceed  to 
have  the  nine  points  on  your  side.  In 
going  to  these  average  towns,  be  it  of 


10,000  or  300,000,  one  thinks  nothing  of 
it,  for  he  knows  that  within  fifteen 
minutes  he  will  find  a  good  cheap  hotel 
or  pension  and  will  forthwith  be  at 
home.  In  approaching  a  city  of  more 
than  a  million  population,  however,  a 
certain  feeling  of  dread  and  of  being 
lost  comes  over  one,  and  there  is  a  little 
question  in  one's  mind  as  to  what  is  to 
become  of  him  in  the  great  city.  It  was 
raining,  and  the  streets  were  dark  and 
wet  and  dirty, and  I  had  no  idea  of  where 
I  was  to  go  when  I  reached  Vienna.  I 
finally  found  a  street  car  and  got  aboard 
and  after  a  long  ride,  a  transfer  and  an- 
other long  ride  reached  the  neighbor- 
hood oi;  the  university.  There  I  quick- 
ly found  a  pension  of  which  I  had  the 
address,  and  was  soon  provided  with  a 
room  and  a  dinner,  and  felt  ready  for 
anything  that  might  happen. 

Sunday  dawned  clear  and  bright  and 
spring-like.  Nearby  was  the  beautiful 
new  Votive  church, erected  in  commeno- 
ration  of  Kaiser  Francis  Joseph's  escape 
from  assassination  in  1853.  Not  know- 
ing any  better  I  went  there  for  the  ten 
o'clock, mass  that  being  the  time  at  which 
the  best  music  is  to  be  heard.  I  learned 
afterwards  that  I  should  have  gone  to 
the  Church  of  St.  Auguatine.  After 
that  I  hunted  out,  as  usual,  an  English 
service— this  time  it  was  a  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian church.  In  the  afternoon  I 
went  out  to  continue  my  investigations 
of  how  the  Venese  spend  Sunday.  This, 
time  my  way  led  to  the  Prater,  which  is 
at  once  the  Central  Park  and  the  Coney 
Island  of  Vienna,  though  the  two  parts 
are  quite  distinct.  The  Coney  Island  part 
s  known  as  the  Volks-Prater  (People's 
Prater)  or  more  properly  the  Wurstel 
(buffoon)  Prater.  Here  the  poorer  classes 
gather  in  great  numbers  to  spend  their 
coppers  and  enjoy  their  brief  holidays. 
The  chief  attractions  are  Punch  and 
Judy  shows,  merry  go-rounds,  shooting 
galleries  and  strength-machines,  with 
all  sorts  of  brass  bands,  music  boxes, 
and  two-penny  fakirs.  Of  course  the 
place  would  not  be  complete  without 
innumerable  restaurants  with  an  illim- 
itable supply  of  beer.  I  have  seen  few 
sights  in  Europe  more  interesting  than 


that  of  these  poor  people  enjoying  their 
Sunday  afternoon.  A  minute's  walk 
took  ine  across  the  great  social  gnlf, 
and  I  fonnd  myself  promenading  with 
the  elite  of  Vienna — or  rather  with  so 
mnch  of  the  elite  as  was  not  driving, 
for  everyone  who  owned  a'  turnout,  or 
could  hire  one,  was  driving.  The  sight 
was  no  less  interesting  than  that  in  the 
Volks-Prater,  but  it  lacked  the  zest. 
The  chief  places  of  resort  for  the  upper 
classes  are  three  large  restaurants  along 
the  main  driveway  known  as  the  Three 
Cafe's,  at  which  military  bands  furnish 
the  music.  The  Viennese  were  the  best 
dressed  people  I  had  yet  seen  in 
Europe.  There  are  not  only  plenty  of 
expensive  gowns  to  be  seen  as  in  Mu- 
nich, or  Berlin,  or  Paris,  but  there  was 
also  once  in  awhile  one  that  was  well 
made  ai.d  which  fitted  properly.  The 
men  too  were  better  dressed  in  better 
taste,  th  ugh  they  too  often  carried  it 
to  the  exteit  of  being  mere  dandies. 
One  of  the  things  that  promptly  strikes 


the  American  eye,  whether  in  Berlin,  or 
Paris,  or  Vienna,  is  that  unmarried 
sisters,  regardless  of  age  and  looks, 
dress  alike,  just  an  twins  are  accustomed 
to  do  in  America.  The  ecclesiastic  is  not 
very  numerous  in  Vienna,  but  the  sol- 
dier is  omnipresent  in  large  numbers. 
Vienna  supplies  a  greater  variety  of  uni- 
forms than  I  have  seen  elsewhere,  and 
it  is  little  wonder  that  the  nobby  looking 
officers  have  slight  trouble  in  finding 
plenty  of  admirers  among  the  gentler 
sex.  The  officer  promenades  with  his 
lady  friends  in  the  Ilannt  Allee  (The 
Main  Drive),  while  the  humbler  private 
finds  his  admirers  in  the  Volks-Prater, 
The  horses  are  sure  to  attract  one's  at- 
tention. The  Viennese  have  the  finest 
and  best-groomed  and  best  treated 
horses  that  I  have  yet  seen  in  Europe. 
The  crack  of  the  lash  is  a  sound  agree- 
ably rare  to  one  who  has  had  his  ears 
eplit  with  the  sound  for  three  months 
in  Paris.  By  way  of  history  I  most  add 
that  the  Prater  was  formerly  an  impe- 
rial hunting  park  which  the  Emperor  Jo- 
seph II  opened  as  a  public  park  in  1770. 
In  1873  it  was  the  site  of  the  Interna- 
tional Exposition. 


The  centre  of  old  Vienna,  around 
which  the  life  of  the  city  revolves,  ia 
the  cathedral  chnrch  of  St.  Stephen, 
whose  spire  towers  far  above  the  rest 
of  the  city.  The  Steffel,  as  it  is  nick- 
named in  the  Viennese  dialect,  is  the 
scene  of  ma^y  a  tale  and  song— one  of 
the  later  having  ranch  the  same  senti- 
ment as  our  own  "Old  Oaken  Bucket," 
about  "How  dear  to  my  heart  are  the 
scenes  of  my  childhood."  Like  all  these 
great  churches  it  is  a  patchwork  of  the 
ages.  For  seven  hundred  years  archi- 
tect after  architect  has  lent  a  hand  to 
help  on  the  completion  of  the  great, 
church,  and  still  it  is  uncompleted  and 
constant  repairs  are  necessary  to  keep 
the  ancient  parts  in  respectable  shape. 
So  accustomed  have  the  Viennese  be- 
come to  see  their  cathedral  with  its  sm- 
gle  spire,  wbilw  tha  one  continues  to  be 
represented  by  only  a  *tnb  of  a  tower, 
that  the  second  spire  will  probably  nev- 
er be  added,  for  it  would  be  as  sacri- 
ligious  to  the  Viennese,  as  it  would  to 
the  Parisians  to  wake  up  some  morning 
and  find  Notre  Datue  properly  finished 
off  with  spires.  The  chnrch  contains 
the  tomb  of  the  famous  Prince  Eagene 
and  the  magnificent  sarcophagus  of 
Etnperor  Frederick  III. 

The  tourist  is  surprised  at  the  small 
number  of  churches  which  he  must  "do"' 
in  Vienna  as  compared  with  Italy  or 
I  France  or  Southern  Germany  Next  to 
St.  Stephen's,  the  most  interesting  is 
the  Capuchin  church,  and  that  for  the 
single  reason  that  it  contains  the  tombs 
of  the  imperial  family  for  the  past  three 
hundred  years.  The  vault  is  rar  under- 
ground and  extends  beneath  the  church. 
The  most  noticeable  tomb  is  that  of 
Maria  Thereea  and  her  husband.  It  is 
very  large  and  splendidly  decorated,  be- 
ing made  of  bronze  At  the  foot  of  it 
stands  a  plain  leaden  box  with  no  mark 
or  decoration.  Such  is  the  tomb  of 
Maria  Theresa's  son,  Joseph  II.,  the 
noblest,  if  not  the  greatest,  of  the  Haps- 
burgs.  Nearby  stand  side  by  side  the 
coffins  of  Maria  Louisa,  the  wife  of  Na- 
poleon, and  of  their  son,  Napoleon  II., 
now  known  as  L'Aiglon.  Just  across 
the  aisle  rests  the  Archduke  Charles, 


the  greatest  general  that  ever  crossed 
swords  with  Napoleon.  Two  richly 
decorated  coffins,  covered  with  wreaths, 
bring  to  inind  the  two  tragedies  which 
have  robbed  the  aged  Kaiser  of  his  son 
and  of  his  wife,  the  Crown "  Prince 
Rudolph  and  the  Empress  Elizabeth. 
Through  this  solemn  place  we  are  escort- 
ed by  a  fine  old  Capnchin  monk  who  rev- 
erently explains  the  plac^  to  us  and 
stops  at  the  last  two  tombs  to  say  a 
prayer  for  the  sonls  of  the  departed 
while  we  all  stand  with  bowed  heads. 
As  we  pass  ont,  a  little  silver  tray  re- 
ceives what  elsewhere  would  be  a  tip, 
but  here  is  an  alms  for  the  poor.  The 
Court  Chnrch  is  dedicated  to  St.  Angus- 
tine  and  contains  tombs  of  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  Imperial  family,  notably 
one  to  the  Arch  Duchess  Maria  Chris- 
tina, a  daughter  of  Marie  Theresa,  who 
ruled  Belgium  when  it  was  still  known 
as  the  Austrian  Netherlands.  Her  beau- 
tiful tomb  is  one  of  Canova's  master 
pieces.  In  the  church  of  the  Scottish 
Benedictines,  is  the  tomb  of  Count  Star- 
hembnrg,  who  defended  Vienna  against 
the  Turks  in  1683.  None  of  the  Vie- 
nese  churches  except  St.  Stephen's  and 
the  Votive  Church  can  lay  any  claims 
to  architectural  beauty  In  one  of  the 
suburbs  stands  a  huge,  almost  ugly, 
church  erected  in  the  18th  century  as  a 
thank  offering  for  the  cessation  of  the 
plague. 

I  have  told  you  of  Vienna's  churches 
and  of  Sunday  in  Vienna,  and  will  next 
time  tell  of  the  secular  and  week-day 
city.  Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  23,  1901. 
TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting tetter. 

ROME,  April  23,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

In  a  far  country,  one  is  ever  on  the 
lookont  for  friends  and  acquaintances, 
or  even  friend's  friends.  So  it  was  with 
uie  in  Vienna.  The  last  letter  I  had  re- 
ceived from  home  contained  the  brief 
statement  that  Merle  Downs  had  sailed 
on  snch  a  day  for  Europe,  where  he 
was  to  act  as  agent  for  an  automobile 
company  in  Vienna.  Such  scanty  infor 
mation  was  all  1  had  to  aid  me  in  finding 
a  friend  in  a  city  of  a  million  and  a  half 
population.  I  began  my  search  on  Sun- 
day afternoon  during  my  walk  in  the 
Prater  and  elsewhere,  keeping  my  eyes 
wide  open  for  every  automobile.  Luck, 
however,  was  against  me  and  I  was 
hastening  back  to  my  pension  for  din- 
ner, pondering  what  means  I  should 
try  next,  when  there  stared  me  in  the 
face  the  words  "American  Locomobile 
Company."  An  investigation  promptly 
revealed  that  a  store  was  being  fitted 
up  as  an  agency  for  automobiles,  but 
was  not  yet  opened.  Here  at  least  was 
a  good  starter  for  further  search.  Ac- 
cordingly, on  Monday  morning,  my  first 
act  was  to  return  to  the  store  to  make 
inquiries,  but  only  to  be  greeted  with 
the  sign,  "No  admission."  Fortunately 
that  sign  has  ceased  to  scare  me  as 
ranch  as  it  once  did,  so-  I  boldly  rapped 
on  the  window  and  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  one  of  the  workmen,  who  opened 
the  door  and  greeted  me  courteously. 
"Is  Herr  Downs  here?"  I  asked.  A 
slightly  puzzled  look  was  all  the  reply 
I  got,  so  I  proceeded  to  describe  him  as 
"a  young  American  just  arrived." 
Light  began  to  break.  Was  it  the 
Herr  Engineer  1  wanted  to  see?"  I  re- 
plied that  it  was  and  was  told  to  call 


• 


again  in  the  afternoon.  I  went  on  with 
my  morning's  sightseeing,  and  directly 
after  luncheon  returned  to  follow  npuiy 
cine.  This  time  ray  rap  on  the  window 
had  the  effect  of  causing  a  young  fellow 
who  was  sitting  in  an  automobile  in  the 
show  window,  to  leap  ont  and  open  the 
door.  His  "Well,  old  man,  I  am  glad 
to  see  yon,"  ended  my  search,  and  a  few 
minntes  later  I  was  enjoying  my  first 
automobile  ride,  and  meditating  on  the 
carious  fact  that  it  should  be  in  Vienna 
and  yet  with  an  Owegoan.  Several 
times  afterwards  we  got  together  and 
talked  over  the  old  times,  and  the  new. 
One  of  the  curious  facts  that  came  out 
was  thflt  my  letter  about  Coblenz  in 
which  I  had  told  of  my  search  for  a  col- 
lar was  published  in  the  TIMES  the  week 
before  Merle  sailed,  and  had  induced 
him  to  lay  in  a  supply.  I  had  not  yet 
received  my  copy  of  the  TIMES  contain- 
ing that  letter  and  it  did  not  reach  me 
till  more  than  a  week  later  when  I  ar- 
rived at  Venice. 

}  also  had  an  experience  in  lookng  up 
a  friend's  friend,  who  is  at  present  Sec- 
retary of  legation  at  Vienna.  One  of 
the  professors  at  Cornell  had  given  me 
alerter  of  introduction  to  a  former  school 
and  college  friend  who  is  at  present  secre- 
tary of  legation  of  Vienna.  I  called  at 
the  embassy  and  presented  my  letter 
and  received  a  cordial  greeting.  Mr. 
Secretary  had  official  engagements  for 
the  afternoon,  but  would  I  meet  him  at 
the  Hotel  Bristol  the  next  afternoon,  if 
so  he  would  be  most  delighted  to  show 
me  some  of  the  less  known  sights  of  Vi- 
enna—some bits  of  old  Vienna.  I  as- 
sured him  the  delight  would  be  all  mine. 
Tuesday  afternoon  found  me  on  band 
at  the  appointed  hour  of  four  o'clock, 
and  for  two  hours  I  was  shown  some- 
thing of  how  the  other  half  lives.  First 
we  cut  directly  across  the  old  city, 
down  through  a  little  street  lined  with 
Jewish  second-hand  clothes  shops, 
where  we  were  assailed  on  all  sides  by 
thrifty  Israelites  willing  to  clothe  us  in 
the  latest  fashion  of  the  ghetto  for  half 
of  nothing.  Then  we  came  out  on  the 
quay  along  the  Danube  canal,  and  di- 
rectly turned  into  a  little  narrow  fide 


street  with  apparently  nothing  in  it  but 
bare  walls.  However,  a  door  opened, 
and  we  were  admitted  to  two  little 
rooms  filled  with  the  fames  of  tobacco 
and  beer.  Seated  abont  the  dozen 
rough  wooden  tables  were  to  be  seen 
people  from  every  grade  of  society  ex- 
cept the  two  extremes  of  aristocracy 
and  poverty.  The  beer  was  kept  and 
dealt  out  as  it  had  been  in  this  sanio 
little  hole  in  the  wall  for  centuries. 
The  waiters  had  little  wicker  baskets 
holding  a  half  dozen  glasses  and  with 

these  made  innumerable    trips  to  the 
cellar  keeping  the  customers  provided 
with     "Bier    frisch     vom  Fass."    The 
great  interest  attaching   to    this  place 
is    that  it    is    the    real  original    head- 
quarters   for     the     original    Pilsiner 
beer,      and      so     to      this    day    it    is 
the  proper  place  for  lovers  of  Pilsener  to 
visit, although  there  are  many  splendid- 
ly   furnished,     up-to-date    places    that 
might  be  patronized,     The  next  place 
was  not  far  off;  in  a  street  which  cen- 
turies ago  was  one  of  the  chief  of  the 
city's  thoroughfares.    This  time,i  istead 
of  being  a  hole  in  the  wall, it  was  a  hole 
in  the  ground.     A  flight  of  about  thirty 
steps  took  us,  far  from  the  light  of  day, 
in  to  two  rudely  furnished  little  rooms, 
lighted  with  lamps    Here  was  a  rollick- 
ing, roistering,  crowd  of  fifty  men,  wo- 
men and  children  drinking  mead.  These 
were  the  genuinely    poor   people,    but 
here  in  Mie  afternoon, during  work  hours, 
they  managed  to  get  time  to  listen  to  the 
orchestra,  which   consisted   of  a  zither 
and   a  fiddle,  and  to  join  in   lustily  as 
some  of  their  popular  songs  were  rmi- 
derered.     "At  the  little  sweet  place,"  as 
this  establishment  is  called,  people  have 
gathered  and  snni-r  their  songs  and  drank 
their  mead  sihco  the  year  of  grace  1H24, 
as  is  duly  attested  by  a  formidable  docu- 
ment upon   the   wall.     Fnrther  on.  wo 
passed  the  grim  and  grimy  old  palace 
of    the    famous    Hungarian   family   of 
Esterhazy.     Turning  into  a  narrow  al- 
ley we  entered  a  side  door  and  descend- 
ed two  long  flights  of  stairs  to  what  is 
probably  the  oldest  and  most  fauiouo 
wine  cellar  in  Vienna.     The  Esterhazya 
have  always  owned  extensive  estates  in 


Hungary,   npon   which  are  grown  the 
beat  vintages  of  Hungarian  wines.  Now 
many,  many  generations  ago.  the  wine 
merchants  of  Vienna  shortened  the  qual- 
ity of  their  wares  -and  at  the  same  time 
lengthened  the  price,  whereat  the  poor 
Viennese  complained  long  and  loudly, 
bat   without  effect.     Prince  Esterhazy 
recalled  with  pride  that  his  wine  cellar 
was  famed  not  only  as  the  largest  in  the 
city,  but  also  for  the  excellent  quality 
O'.   its  contents.     Ho    reflected   further 
that  he  could  well  afford  to  sell  his  pure 
wines  at  such  a  price  that  the  poor  peo- 
ple could  afford  to  buy  them  in  prefer- 
ence   to    the    adulterated   article  with 
which    the   market  was  flooded,   even 
hough  the  prices  should  fall  to  their 
normal  figure.    This  truly  was  a  chance 
>f  obtaining  popularity,  not  only  with- 
out cost,  but  even  at  a  handsome  profit. 
So,  from  that  day  to  this  the  Esterhazy 
Keller  has  been  opened  each  af'ernoon 
!rom  five  o'clock  till  aeven  and  the  poor 
have  flocked   thither  to  buy  them,  the 
lest  wines  at  the  lowest  prices.  About  the 
•ellar  are   arranged   several   enormous 
wine  barrels,  and  about  the  walls  runs 
a  rough  wooden  bench  over  which,  just 
ibove  the  heads  of  the  people,  is  abroad 
ledge  on   which   the  people  rest  their 
wine    glasses  between   drinks.     If  the 
place  itself  is  interesting,   its  patrons 
are  far  more  so.     Of  this  there  is  excel- 
lent testimony.  You  will  recall  that  for 
about  two  years  Mark   Twain   lived  in 
Vienna.     Among  the  places  to  which 
he  lovetl  to  resort  to  study  human  na- 
ture was  the  Esterhazy  Keller,   and  an- 
other   was    the    little    bier  restaurant 
which  I  mentioned  first.     The  ways  of 
the  Viennese  wine  merchant  seem  to  be 
as  devious  to-day  as  they  were  four  cen- 
turies ago,  for  recently  there  was  such 
complaint  about  the  quality   arid   price 
of  wine,  that  when   the  city  built   its 
beautiful  new  Rathhaus,  or  city  hall,  a 
few  years  ago,  the  city  fathers  decided 
to  fit  up  a  winecellar  in   the  basement 
where  good  wine  should   be   sold   at  a 
reasonable  price.  Accordingly  the  Ratb- 
haus  Keller  was  fitted  up  with  first,  sec- 
ond, and  third  class  rooms.      The   fur- 
nishiugs,  the  service  and  the  prices  dif- 


fering  somewhat  in  the    three  .apart- 
ments, which  are  almost  three  separate 
restaurants.     Not  only  wines  are  served 
bnt  also  regular  meals.      Throughout 
Germany  there  are  many  ratbhans  kel- 
lera  and  they  are  generally  among  the 
best  and  cheapest  of  the  restaurants. 
I  have  described  this  afternoon  visit   to 
fonr  famous   places   of  resort,   becanso 
they  are  (jaite  different  from  anything 
in  America     A  place  in   America  like 
any  of  the  first  three  would   bo  a  dirty 
disreputable    hole,    of    such    character 
one  would  feel  that  he  was  taking   his 
life  in  his  hands  to  enter   it,    while  in 
each  of  these  the  people  were  orderly 
and  well-behaved,  though  perhaps  some 
were  a  Itttle  too  good  natnred.     Drunk- 
ness  and  the  accornpaning  evils  do  not 
exiat  in  Europe,  so  far  as  my  observa- 
tion goes,  in  the  forms  that  are  so   un- 
pleasantly   familiar    in   America.      By 
that  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  evils 
of  intempeaance  do  not  exist  in  Europe, 
for  they  do  and  in  a  very   marked   de- 
gree, bnt  rarely  does  it  take  the  form  of 
drunkenness   as  we  know  it.     I   have 
seen  people  somewhat  intoxicated,   and 
I  have  seen  one  case  of  what  was  appar- 
ently delirum  trernens,  bnt  the   "plain 
drunk"  does  not  exist.      The  Parisian 
cab  drivers  probably  come  the  nearest 
to  being  a  ''drunken  set"  of  any  class 
found  in  Europe,  and  that  is  because  afc 
each  cab  stand  there  is  a   "Cabby's  sa- 
loon" where  cabby  drinks  large  quanti- 
ties of  cheap  wine  of  questionable  qual- 
ity, and  as  a  result,  cabby  is  frequently 
"half  seas  over"  or  "nas  a  good  grouch." 
Having  made  a  superficial   study  of 
the  temperance  question  in  Vienna,  I 
will  turn  now  to  art  and  science  and 
things  less  vexatious    to  contemplate. 
The  ancient  walls  which  enclosed  only 
I  the  first  of  the  nineteen  wards  of  the 
i  present  city,  were  levelled  in  1857,  and 
their  place  is  now  occupied  by  a  fine 
boulevard,  or  ringstrasse,  and  by  numer- 
ous fine  new  buildings,   including  sev- 
eral erected  for  public  purposes.    Going 
southward  from  the  Votive' church,  one 
passes  in  order  the  university,  the  city 
hall,  the  theatre,  the  parliament  house, 
the    volksgarten,     the    supreme    court 


building,  the  natural  history  museum, 
the  art  history  museum,  the  new  wing  of 
the  imperial  palace  and  the  opera.  I 
doubt  if  anywhere  else  so  many  fine 
new  public  buildings  can  be  seen  in  a 
ten  minutes  walk.  The  university,  the 
"Rathiaus"  or  city  hall,  the  "Reichs- 
Raths-gebauede''  or  parliament  house, 
and  the  'Justiz  Palast'  or  supreme  court 
building, each  occupy  a  whole  square  and 
possess  very  fine  exteriors, and  the  hasty 
glimpse  I  caught  of  their  interiors  as- 
sured me  that  they  would  have  been 
worthy  of  further  inspection  had  my 
stay  in  Vienna  been  longer 

[TO  BE  CONTINUED.]        

~OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  30.  1901. 


TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 


George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting; T>eUer. 

ROME,  April  23,  1901. 
My  Dear  Sir- 

[CONTINUED  ] 

The  Hof-Bnrg  theatre  pleased  me 
better  than  any  other  theatre  or  opera 
house  that  I  have  seen.  The  architecture 
and  the  ornamentation  both  of  exterior 
and  interior  are  in  porfect  taste,  and 
are  rich.  It  is  far  from  being  as  large 
or  as  luxurious  and  ornate  as  the  Opera 
at  Paris,  but  is  far  more  pleasing  and 
comfortable.  The  seating  capacity  is 
2,000,  which  is  150  less  than  in  the  Opera 
at  Paris.  The  cheapest  seats,  even, 
are  neatly  upholstered,  and  comfortable, 
and  afford  a  good  view  of  the  stage- 
three  rare  and  excellent  qualities.  The 
opera  is  about  twenty  years  older  than 
the  theatre,  having  been  built  during 
the  sixties.  It  is  larger  and  seats  two 
jLmadred  more  than  toe  larger  Opera  at 
Pans.  The  building  is  far  from  being 
the  gc-m  that  the  theatre  is,  but  is 
still  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world. 
Its  decorations  were  largely  executed  by 
Moritz  von  Schwind,  one  of  the  most 


pleasing  German  artists  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  great  size  of  the 
stage  is  one  of  the  noteworthy  features 
of  the  building.  The  prices  of  seats  for 
grand  opera  are  agreeably  small  for  one 
who  has  known  nothing  bnt  the  exces- 
sive charges  in  New  York  and  the  other 
large  American  cities.  The  best  seat;! 
at  the  opera  anywhere  in  Ge-riaany  can 
be  had  for  about  three  dollars, good  seats 
can  be  had  for  a  dollar  and  often  even 
ie*s.  The  cheapest  seats  are  fifty  cent? 
or  sometime  less  These  prices  are  apt 
to  be  raised  somewhat  for  Wagner,  arid 
during  the  tonrist  season,  and  occasion- 
ally for  some  special  reason.  In  Ger- 
man speaking  lands,  the  important  feat- 
nre  ot  the  opera  is  the  rendering  of  the 
music,  both  by  the  orchestra  arid  by  the 
orchestra  and  by  the  singers,  though 
perhaps  nowhere  else  is  such  great  care 
given  to  the  stage  setting  The  absolute 
silence  that  reigns  in  a  German  opera 
house  from  the  first  strain  of  the  over 
Lure  to  the  last  note  of  the  last  act  is  an 
object  lesson  that  might  well  be  enforced 
in  other  lands.  Nowhere  else  can  one 
bear  so  much  good  music  so  well  and  HO 
cheap.  There  is  no  little  rivalry  among 
the  Operas  at  Berlin,  Dresden,  Munich 
and  Vienna  as  to  which  gives  the  Wag- 
ner operas  best.  In  France  and  in  Italy 
far  more  attention  is  given  to  the  pro- 
duction of  the  ballet,  and  less  to  the 
musical  rendering,  and  it  is  not  alwajs 
that  one  can  hear  the  music, undisturbed 
by  the  whispers  and  giggles  of  his  neigh- 
bors. Both  the  theatre  and  the  opera  are 
under  the  control  of  the  court,  which 
explains  to  some  extent  the  excellence 
of  the  performance  and  the  cheapness 
of  the  prices.  Another  place  for  public 
amusement,  under  government  control, 
i«  the  Volksgarten,  which  is  a  part  of 
the  park  adjoining  the  imperial  palace, 
which  has  been  opened  to  the  public. 
The  large  garden  house  contains  an  ex- 
cellent restaurant.  Every  Sunday  and 
Thursday  afternoon  and  evening  band 
concerts  are  given;  in  winter  in  the  gar- 
den house,  in  summer  in  the  open  air. 
The  public  sit  at  tables  and  eat  or  drink, 
and  chat  according  to  their  mood,  and 
when  the  conversation  lags,listen  to  the 


music  till  farther  inspiration  comes.  At 
the  Philharmonic,  the  corresponding 
place  in  Berlin,  absolute  silence  exists 
during  the  music,  which  is  rendered  by 
an  orchestra  instead  of  a  band.  The 
Philharmonic  is  a  private  business,  and 
the  music  is  more  classic.  In  both  cases 
these  cafe- restaurants  are  frequented 
only  by  the  better  classes  and  are  always 
well  filled,  often  crowded. 

My  description  brings  me  next  to  the 
two  Muaenin  buildings.  Just  opposite 
the  imperial  palace  is  a  large  square, 
beautifully  laid  out,  in  the  centre  of 
which  rises  a  collossal  bronze  rnonn 
ment  to  Maria  Theresa.  The  adjoining 
squares  on  either  side  are  occupied  by 
the  two  splendid  new  museum  buildings 
Externally  the  two  structures  are  ex 
actly  alike,  except  as  regards  the  sculp- 
tural ornamentation,  which  is  varied 
to  accord  with  r,h«  ctmtouts  or  the  1-uiiu 
ing.  They  are  built  of  stone  of  a  rich 
dark  brown  color.  The  interiors  vary 
somewhat  in  arrangement  to  accommo  ' 
date  their  respective  collections,  but  ' 
both  alike  are  finished  in  the  richest  and 
handsomest  fashion  and  every  care  has 
been  taken  to  display  the  collections  in 
the  most  convenient  manner  and  to  tht 
best  advantage.  I  doubt  if  there  exists 
anywhere  two  such  magnificent  build- 
ings erected  specifically  as  museums. 
The  natural  history  collection  is  cer- 
tainly the  best  arranged  one  that  I  have 
seen,  and  in  contents,  I  think,  the  best 
all  around  museum  of  its  sort,  though 
the  separate  departments  are  surpassed 
by  otner  museums.  In  two  or  three 
sections,  however,  it  is  unrivalled.  It 
contains  the  largest  collection  of  meteo- 
rites, and  the  most  complete  collection 
of  fishes  in  existence. 

The  Art  History  Museum,  of  course, 
interested  me  far  more.  There  is  a 
collection  of  antiquities  which  contain? 
several  objects  of  importance.  The  col- 
lections representing  industrial  art  are 
bewildering  in  the  number  of  beautiftr 
things  which  they  contain,  and  in  cer- 
tain departments  are  unrivalled.  The 
pride  of  the  museum  is  the  collection  of 
armor,  the  finest  in  the  world,  though 
I  think  there  are  more  suits  of  armor  in 
the  Hotel  des  Invalides  at  Paris  Here 
are  preserved  the  beautifully  wrought 
and  richly  adorned  suits  of  armor  of 


many  emperors,  kings,  princes,  and 
famous  men.  Special  mention  might  be 
made  of  the  armor  and  weapons  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.  There  are  also  the 
dress  swords  and  pistols  of  many  prin- 
ces and  generals  and  numerous  marshal's 
batons.  The  part  of  the  mnseum  of 
greatest  interest  is  the  splendid  picture 
gallery.  It  is  one  of  the  best  all-aromid 
collections  of  paintings  in  Europe.  The 
Hapsburgs,  the  Austrian  imperial  farni 
iy,  were  until  the  present  century  the 
nominal  rulers  of  all  Germany,  and 
during  the  eighteenth  century  they 
were  the  actual  rulers  of  the  Catholic 
Netherlands,  now  Belgium,  and  until 
forty  years  ago,  of  a  large  part  of  Italy. 
These  fact,  connected  with  the  intimate 
family  relations  with  the  Spanish  royal 
family,  explain  the  excellency  of  the 
collection  in  the  works  of  German, 
Flemish,  Italian  and  Spanish  masters. 
The  two  greatest  German  masters, 
Duerer  and  the  younger  Holbein,  are 
represented  by  some  of  their  master 
pieces.  The  leaser  masters,  especially 
the  eighteenth  century,  are  well  repre- 
sented, but  the  nineteenth  century  Ger: 
mans  are  not  so  well  favored,  their 
places  being  taken  by  several  Austrians, 
whose  works  are  seldom  seen  elsewhere, 
the  best  of  whom  is  Makarts.  In  the 
Flemish  school,  the  collection  is  very 
rich.  Other  galleries  may  have  more 
works  of  Rubens,  but  nowhere  else  have 
1  seen  him  to  such  good  advantage,  for 
the  pictures  at  Vienna  do  not  offend  by 
their  grossness,  as  is  so  often  the  case. 
Van  Dyck  is  equally  well  represented, 
and  some  of  tne  lesser  men,  such  as 
Teniers,  have  several  works  to  their 
credit.  Scarcely  a  single  great  Italian 
is  without  as  least  one  work  at  Vienna. 
The  Venetian  school  is  especially  well 
represented,  though  Titian  easily  out- 
ranks all  others  both  in  the  number  and 
the  excellency  of  his  works.  Of  the 
great  Spaniards,  both  Murillo  and  Ve- 
lasquez have  contributed  some  of  their 
best  works.  The  various  Dutch  schools 
are  not  without  representation,  the 


landscape  painters  especially  having 
furnished  some  of  their  finest  works 
Curiously  enough,  and  yet  not  without 
reason,  there  is  scarcely  a  single  work 
by  a  French  or  an  English  painter,  and 
I  think  not  even  a  lone  representative 
of  American  art. 

In  the  academy  of  fine  arts,  there  is 
also  an  extensive  collection  of  paint- 
ings, but  only  a  few  of  the  great  names 
are  worthily  represented.  The  various 
Austrian  painters  and  several  of  the 
modern  masters,  however,  have  several 
works  credited  to  them.  Of  the  new 
paintings,  as  in  Munich,  there  are  semi- 
annual exhibitions,  representing  the 
two  schools  of  art.  The  largest  and  by 
far  the  best  exhibition  is  the  work  of 
what  might  be  called  the  "regulars"  or 
the  "old  school,"  to  distinguish  from 
the  work  of  the  more  erratic  of  the 
younger  generation,  who  call  themsel- 
ves the  "Secesssion."  It  was  my  good 
fortune  to  see  the  spring  exhibition  or 
"salon"  of  each  of  these  schools.  Of 
the  "Secession"  works,  I  seldom  found 
one  that  pleased  me,  but  in  the  regular 
exhibition  I  readily  found  much  to 
admire. 

The  imperial  palace,  in  its  oldest 
parts,  dates  from  the  middle  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  but  was  largely  con- 
structed by  Maria  Thersa.  The  presenr 
Emperor  has  begun  a  large  new  wing  of 
the  palace,  which  was  to  have  been  the 
home  of  the  unfortunate  Crown  Prince 
Rudolph,  but  since  his  death  the  work 
has  not  been  pushed  so  vigorously  as 
formerly.  As  the  Emperor  was  in  resi- 
dence during  my  stay  in  Vienna  I  was 
unable  to  visit  the  interior  of  the  pal- 
ace, with  the  exception  of  the  imperial 
treasury,  in  which  are  preserved  the 
imperial  insignia  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  besides  numerous  jewels  and 
relics  relating  to  Maria  Thersa,  and 
other  members  of  the  imperial  family. 
Of  the  other  objects  of  interests  in  Vi- 
enna, 1  suppose  the  numerous  fountains 
end  monuments  may  be  mentioned, 
some  for  their  historic  value  and  some 
for  their  artistic  merits.  The  fountain 
which  pleased  me  best  was  one  in 
bronze  in  the  New  Market,  which  is 


decorated  with  four  figures  symbolical 
of  foor  of  the  branches  of  the  Danube. 
There  is  a  larger  fountain  in  stone  re- 
presenting all  the  larger  rivers  of  the 
Empire,  but  it  is  almost  an  eyesore.  To 
my  mind  the  finest  monument  is  the 
one  to  Schiller  designed  by  Schilling, 
the  famous  Dresden  sculptor.  Others, 
however,  may  prefer  the  monuments  to 
Mozart.  Beethoven  or  Goethe,  all  of 
which  are  admirable.  There  was,  to  be 
sure,  mach  which  my  brief  stay  in  Vi- 
enna, did  not  permit  me  to  see,  but  I 
did  see  and  have  rf  counted  the  things 
most  important  and  interesting. 

I  made  two  brief  trips  into  the  su- 
burbs, one  to  Schoenbruuu,  the  other  to 
Kahlenburg.  Schoeabrnnn  was  once 
an  imperial  hunting  lodge,  which  waa 
later  fitted  up  as  a  royal  residence.  In 
their  day,  the  palace  and  gardens  were 
considered  very  fine,  and,  in  fact,  are 
still  an  object  of  pride  to  the  Viennese, 
but  to  my  eye,  there  was  little  of  beauty 
or  charm  in  them  Its  ch«if  interest  is 
as  th«  residence  of  Napoleon  after  the 
battles  of  Ansterlitz  and  Wagram,  and 
an  the  home  of  his  son  the  Duke  of 
Reichstadt.  LTAiglon,  who  died  there 
in  is:'i2  The  Kahlenberg  is  a  hill  about 
fivo  miles  from  Vienna,  which  rises  a 
thousand  feet  above  the  city  and  com- 
mands a  splendid  view  of  Vienna  and 
of  the  country  for  miles  aronnd,  includ- 
ing several  famous  battlefield*,  such  as 
Aspern  and  Wagram.  It  is  impossible 
to  understand  Vienna  until  one  has  had 
some  such  view  of  it  and  its  surround- 
ings. 

At  7:4o  o'clock, on  the  morning  of  Sat- 
urday, the  23d  of  March,!  bade  farewell 
to  Vienna, and  started  for  Italy,reaching 
lanspruck  after  traveling  all  day,  at 
9:20  in  the  evening,  where  I  found  my 
friend  waiting  for  me  at  the  station. 
The  journey  is  a  very  tiresome  one, 
though  it  leads  through  much  charming 
scenery.  One  of  the  curioos  phenomena 
was  to  pass  through  a  bit  of  country 
where  there  was  considerable  snow  and 
a  snowstorm  in  progress,  arid  then  sud- 
denly come  upon  a  landscape  with  not  a 
sign  of  snow.  At  Inuspruck  there  is  lit- 
tle to  see  excei: t  the  famous  monument 


to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  and  some 
relics  of  Andreas  Hofer  and  his  com- 
patriots. Maximilian's  monument  fills 
a  large  part  of  the  Franciscan  or  Court 
church.  It  consists  of  a  large  sarcopha- 
gns,  which,  however,  does  not  contain 
the  Emperor's  remains,  snrronnded  by 
twenty  eight  bronze  statues, larger  than 

1  life  size.  Many  of  the  bronzes  are  of 
splendid  workmanship,  bnt  the  finest 
portion  of  the  m  on  a  merit  consists  of 
twenty-four  marble  reliefs  on  the  sides 
of  the  sarcophagus.  They  are  so  deli- 
cately wrought  that  the  great  Thorwald- 
sen  pronounced  them  the  most  perfect 
work  of  their  kind.  The  scenery  about 
Innspruck  is  rugged  and  picturesque, 
affording  opportunity  for  many  pleasant 
excursions.  We  visited  Berg-Ieel,  a  hill 
overlooking  the  city,  on  which  occnrred 
one  of  Andreas  Hofer's  battles.  From 
there  we  walked  on  to  Schloss  Ambras, 

i  a  castle  belonging  to  a  member  of  the 
Austrian  Imperial  family.  Monday 
morning  we  were  up  bright  and  early 
and  off  for  Italy  at  seven  o'clock.  The 
scenery  was  most  picturesque  as  we 
climbed  the  Alps,  crossed  the  Bsenner 
Pass,  and  descended  to  Italy.  During 
the  afternoon  we  stopped  at  the  little 
town  of  Ala  for  the  Itaiian  customs  ex- 
arninatian,  and  at  4:20  reached  Verona, 
where  another  tale  begins. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GEORGE  M.  DUTCHER. 


GO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JUNE  6,  1901. 

TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

tJeorge  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Iiiter- 
eftting:  better. 

CAPRI,  May  4, 1901. 
My  Dear  Sir- 

I  had  jnst  come  down  over  the  moun- 
tains into  Italy  at  the  close  of  my  last 
letter,  now  I  am  in  the  Blue  Grotto  Ho- 
tel on  the  island  of  Capri  in  the  Bay  of 
Naples.  I  might  write  you  dozens  of 
interesting  things  about  Verona,  where 
I  first  saw  Italy  ab  horns,  of  Viceriza 
find  its  palaces,  of  Padna  and  its  inter- 
esting church  of  St.  Anthony  who 
preached  to  the  fishes,  and  of  Venice 
and  its  canals.  Or  I  might  tell  you  of 
Farrara,  with  wide,  straight  streets, 
but  as  dead  as  a  western  town  after  the 
"boom"  has  passed,  and  of  Bologna's 
arcaded  streets,  and  its  towers  which 
overlook  miles  upon  miles  of  level  coun- 
try and  show  you  the  churches  of  Ra- 
venna with  their  ancient  mosaics 
After  that,  we  could  go  over  the  Apen- 
nines together,  for  a  peek  at  Pistoza, 
and  then  pass  ten  delightful  days  in 
Florence  and  its  beautiful  environs. 
The  next  journey  would  take  us  to  Or- 
vieto  perched  aloft  on  a  precipitous 
cliff  and  graced  with  a  beautiful  cathe- 
dral. Then,  we  would  roam  amid  the 
ruins  of  the  Roman  forum,  and  through 
the  ancient  palaces  of  the  Caesars,  or 
clamber  to  a  point  of  vantage  in  the 
Colosseum.  Later  we  would  stroll  out 
to  the  English  cemetery  to  see  the 
nameless  grave  of  Keats,  or  out  the 
Appican  way  to  visit  the  catacombs  or 
to  enjoy  the  view  across  the  Campagna 
,  from  the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella.  At 
|  another  time  we  would  cross  the  Tiber 
i  to  be  awed  by  the  greatness  of  St.  Peter's 
or  to  visit  the  wonderful  art  collections 
i  which  generations  of  Popes  have  gath-  j 
i  ered  in  the  Vatican.  There  we  might  \ 


pass  honrs  in  the  Sistine  Chapel  adini?- 
ing  the  genius  of  Michael  Angelo,  or 
perhaps  climb  the  stairs  tc  those  apart- 
ments made  sacred  by  the  art  of  Raph 
!  ael.  Afterwards  as  the  frait  and  cheese 
:  at  the  end  of  this  delightful  menn  we 
would  visit  those  rninR  of  brick  which 
were  once  the  marble  palaces  of  Hadri- 
an, and  climb  the  hill  to  the  casades  at 
Tivoli. 

Instead  of  permitting  yon  to  enjoy  all 
these  delights  as  I  have,  I  am  going  to 
ronte  yon  out  early  in  the  morning  to 
take  the  8:20  train.  Yon  are  jnst  too 
late  to  catch  the  street  car  and  have  to 
take  a  cab,  bnt  don't  yon  care;  it  is  hot 
and  dnsty,  and  yon  are  squeezed  in  be- 
tween an  ill  mannered  Italian  lieuten-  | 
ant  and  a  fat  German  woman,  and  more 
than  that  yon  are  fiercely  sleepy,  bnt 
never  mind,  Its  1:30  when  yon  are 
turned  out  into  the  Naples  mob,  but  it 
matters  not.  1  shall  take  you  by  the  2:00 
o'clock  train  to  Pompeii.  At  2 :30  \*  e 
are  dickering  with  the  proprietor  of  the 
Hotel  Suisse  to  get  your  room  at  the 
price  he  should  have  asked  at  first. 

Now  that  you  have  survived  the  dis-  ! 
agreeable  preface,  come  with  me.  and 
we  will  visit  ancient  Pompeii  and  for-  | 
get  our  recent  tribulations.  I  know  yon 
will  spend  half  your  time  in  stealing 
glances  at  Vesuvius,  instead  of  proper- 
ly examining  the  city,  which  the  famous 
volcano  preserved  by  destroying.  No 
doubt  you  recall  the  picture  of  Vesuvi- 
us in  the  old  geography  which  you  saw  i 
when  you  were  six  years  old,  and  your 
youthful  vow  to  keep  away  from  such 
a  terrible  place.  Later  you  came  to 
know  the  story  of  Pompeii  and  then  yon 
would  have  liked  to  just  steal  a  peek 
into  that  city  of  the  dead,  but  your 
courage  was  not  yet  bold.  This  after- 
noon, however,  you  stroll  through  tfhose 
vacant  streets  and  into  those  long  un- 
tenanted  houses,  and  gaza  at  the  moun- 
tain looming  above  you  and  feel  that 
you  lead  a  charmed  life.  Yes  you  do, 
for  to-morrow  I  shall  take  you  up  there 
and  let  you  peer  down  into  the  very  in- 
side of  that  mountain,  and  sniff  the 
fumes  that  issue  from  it,  and  grow 
startled  as  the  pent-up  steam  bursts 


forth  with  a  roar  and  covers  yon  with 
cinders.  Then  yon  will  understand  the 
charmed  life  the  ancients  lead  in  this 
little  town,  and  their  terror  when  that 
charm  was  suddenly  broken  on  an  Au- 
gnst  day  nineteen  hundred  years  ago. 

There,  put  up  your  pocketbook.  I  have 
paid  your  entrance  fee — it  was  only  two 
lire  (thirty-eight  cents)  Now  come  up 
this  little  hill  and  we  v?iil  enter  by  the 
ancient  gate  of  the  city  nearest  the  sea. 
In  the  little  building  at  the  right  we 
find  a  small  museum  with  a  few  inter- 
esting things  of  sorts  but  we  will  only 
stop  to  examine  some  plaster  casts  in 
the  cases  in  the  center  of  the  rooms. 
These  casts  are,  so  to  speak,  the  death 
masks  of  the  victims.  In  the  course  of 
the  excavations,  the  remains  of  various 
unfortunates  have  been  discovered.  The 
earth  that  enclosed  and  smothered 
them  has  preserved  their  exact  form,  so 
that,  by  filling  the  cavities  with  plaster, 
exact  figures  of  the  dead  are  obtained 
in  the  posture  of  death.  Some  are  flat 
upon  the  face,  some  rest  peacefully  on 
the  side,  others  drawn  up  in  agony. 
Most  pitiful  of  all  are  the  mother  and 
daughter  who  have  perished  together  in 
their  flight.  You  look  about  for  the 
faithful  Roman  soldier  who  died  at  his 
post,  and  the  gladiator  who  was  fight- 
ing in  the  Arena  when  the  disaster  oc- 
curred. They  are  old  friends  of  whom 
you  have  often  heard,  but  they  are  not 
here  for  they  are  both  myths,  like  all 
the  other  things  that  are  too  good  to  be 
true.  Going  on  towards  the  Forum  we 
pass  a  newly  excavated  site  with  a  few 
remains  of  an  ancient  temple  of  Apollo 
sufficiently  preserved  for  us  to  under 
stand  something  of  its  original  form  and 
appearance.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
street  are  the  more  extensive  remains  of 
the  ancient  basalica  or  court  house, 
which  like  similar  buildings  in  present 
day  Italy  probably  contained  numerous 
little  market  booths.  The  Via  Marina,  ' 
the  street  by  which  we  have  entered 
the  city  ends  at  the  Forum,  with  the 
temple  of  Apollo  on  one  corner  and  the 
basilica  on  the  other.  About  the  Fo- 
rum, a.e  several  of  the  other  important 
buildings  of  the  city.  Proceeding  along 


the  west  Bide  of  the  Forum  back  of  the 
Temple  of  Apollo,  yon  will  note  several 
unimportant  structures.  In  one,  were 
kept  the  standards  of  weights  and 
measures,  another  was  perhaps  a  prison, 
and  another  was  probably  a  market  ball. 
The  northern  end  of  the  Forum  is  occu- 
pied by  the  Temple  of  Jupiter,  which, 
like  that  of  Apollo,  stands  on  a  lofty 
foundation,  and  is  approached  by  flights 
of  steps.  The  building  seems  to  have 
been  ruined  by  the  earthquake  of  the 
year  63,  and  to  have  been  still  in  ruins 
when  the  final  destruction  of  the  town 
occurred.  There  yet  remains  standing 
at  the  back  of  the  temple,  the  niches 
which  contained  the  statues  of  the  deit- 
ies, and  in  front  several  columns  hint 
at  the  departed  glory  of  the  building. 
Standing  just  in  front  of  the  temple  and 
looking  at  the  columns,  you  will  sud- 
denly become  conscious  that  your  eyes 
have  travelled  far  beyond  the  columns, 
to  study  the  beautiful  background  of 
the  picture.  Once  more  it  is  Vesuvius 
and  not  the  ruins,  but  we  are  doing 
ruins  to  day,  so  let  us  proceed  and  give 
them  our  attention.  Adjoining  the 
Temple  of  Jupiter  are  two  brick  arches, 
which  were  once  encrusted  with  marble 
and  probably  richly  ornamented.  Near 
the  temple,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Fo- 
rum, is  the  Macellum  or  provision  mar- 
ket. This  large  building,  which  was  in 
process  of  erection  when  the  disaster 
occurred,  contained  a  large  and  elegant 
central  court,  ahd  numerous  stalls  for 
the  tradespeople,  besides  several  other 
apartments,  including  a  chapel  in  honor 
of  the  imperial  family.  The  walls  of 
the  court  wore  decorated  with  frescoes. 
like  so  many  of  the  bnildings  in  Pom- 
peii. The  adjoining  building  was  pro- 
bably the  shrine  of  the  local  divinities, 
and  the  next  was  dedicated  to  the  Em- 
peror Vespasion.  The  priestess  Eu- 
machia  was  responsible  for  the  erection 
of  the  neighboring  building,  which 
seems  to  have  been  occupied  by  the  wool 
merchants.  Also  opening  on  the  Forum 
are  the  cvmitium,  or  voting  place,  and 
and  three  small  building,  called  the 
tribunals,  which  are  probably  occupied 
by  municipal  offices.  _ 


Pompeii  had  a  liberal  supply  of  pub- 
lic buildings  beside  those  about  the  Fo- 
rnin.  Notable  among  these  are  the 
three  theatres.  The  great  amphitheatre, 
somewhat  similar  to  the  Colosseum  in 
general  design,  accommodated  twenty- 
thousand  spectators.  The  structure  was 
erected  in  the  first  century  before  our 
era  and  had  already  fallen  into  disuse 
before  the  disaster  of  the  year  79,  so  that 
the  story  that  the  eruption  surprised  the 
people  while  in  attendance  on  a  gladia- 
torial combat  here,  is  without  founda- 
tion. The  great  theatre  was  a  much 
smaller  building  in  the  shape  of  half  an 
amphitheatre,  and  able  to  hold  five 
thousand  people.  Close  by  is  the  smal- 
ler theatre,  much  the  best  building  and 
the  best  preserved,  but  seating  only  fif 
teen  hundred  spectators.  Unlike  the 
other  two  it  was  a  roofed  building. 
Of  the  other  temples,  you  will  note  one 
dedicated  to  ^Esculapine,  the  god  of 
healing,  and  one  to  Isis,  an  Egyptian 
goddess,  whose  cult  was  in  vogue  in  Italy 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era. 
Of  the  other  public  buildings,  the  most 
important  are  the  baths,  of  which  three 
have  already  been  excavated.  These 
baths  vary  greatly  in  details  of  arrange- 
ment, but  all  seem  to  have  been  pro- 
vided with  a  dressing  room,  a  room  for 
tLecold  bath,  another  for  the  tepid  bath, 
and  still  another  for  the  warm  bath. 
Of  course  there  were  many  lesser  apart- 
ments, including  private  baths  and  wo- 
men's baths.  Space  was  also  provided 
for  gymnastic  and  athletic  exercises. 
The  arrangements  for  the  supply  of  wa- 
ter and  for  the  regulation  of  the  tem- 
perature of  the  rooms  is  surprisingly 
complete  and  ingenius.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  though  glass  was  in  use 
in  Pompeii,  it  was  sufficiently  rare  to 
make  the  architectural  arrangements 
materially  different  from  those  of  the 
presennt  day.  I  believe  that  there  is 
only  a  single  ca'se  where  a  window  glass 
still  occupies  its  ancient  position  in  the 
rniiis  of  the  city. 

[CONTINUED  NEXT  WEEK  ] 


OWEGO  TIMES. 


THURSDAY,  JUNE  13,  1901. 

TRAVELING  IN  EUROPE. 

George  M.  Dutcher  Writes  Another  Inter- 
esting; Letter. 

[CONTINUED  FROM  LAST  WEEK.] 

I  might  go  on  and  escort  yon  throngh 
the  various  shops  and  honses  and  dis 
coarse  npon  them  each  at  length,  but 
that  would  make  me  a  lot  of  trouble 
and  probably  only  serve  to  weary  you. 
I  shall  merely  tell  you  the  general  plan 
of  the  private  house,  and  mention  some 
of  the  most  interesting  dwellings.  Fac- 
ing the  street  on  the  ground  floor,  there 
are  generally  small  apartments  consist- 
ing of  one  or  at  most  two  rooms,  which 
have  no  connection  with  the  rest  of  the 
house,  but  were  used,,  as  shops,  not  very 
unlike  the  practice  of  the  present  day  in 
Italy  and  even  in  other  countries.  A 
doorway  with  a  narrow  vestibule  leads 
to  the  house  proper.  Oftentimes  this 
little  vestibule  is  decorated  with  a  char- 
acteristic mosaic,  such  as  that  of  the 
dog  with  the  inscription  "Beware  of 
the  dog, "in  the  house  of  Glaucus.  Pass- 
ing from  the  vestibule  you  enter  imme- 
diately the  principal  room  of  the  house, 
the  atrium.  This  is  a  great  hall 
with  a  Jarge  water  basin  impluvium,  in 
the  center,  which  collected  the  rain 
water,  the  roof  above  it  being  open. 
Opening  off  of  the  atrium,  were  the 
private  apartments  of  the  family,  at  the 
sides,  and  the  triclinium  or  dining- 
room,  and  the  tablinum,  or  parlor  at 
the  back.  Beyond  the  atrium  was  the 
peristyle,  a  large  paved  court  with  a  roof 
supported  by  several  columns.  Open- 
ing from  the  peristyle  were  often  other 
private  apartments,  notably  the  kitchen, 
and  generally  a  second  dining-room  for 
the  hot  weather.  In  the  larger  and  better 
houses  the  peristyle  was  adjoined  by  a 
a  small  garden,  not  open  as  with  us,but 
enclosed  an'd  forming  an  integral  part 
of  the  house.  The  second  story  seems 
to  have  contained  the  servants'  quarters. 


The  absence  of  glass,  the  necessity  of 
security  and  the  desire  for  privacy  made 
the  Roman  house,  face  inwards,  while 
onrsfaceontwards.  The  exterior  of  even 
the  best  of  these  old  houses  is  undeco- 
rated,  unbroken  wall  of  brick  or  stone, 
and  all  the  ornamentation  and  the  open- 
1  ings  for  light  and  air  are  on  the  inside. 
Of  course  the  number  and  arrangement 
of  the  rooms  is  cot  alike  in  any  two 
honaes  any  more  than  it  is  with  us,  yet 
just  as  with  us  there  are  certain  things 
common  to  all,  and  the  general  arrange- 
ment, snch  as  I  have  described,  will  ap- 
ply with  certain  family  recognizable  va- 
riations to  ail  ttie  private  dwellings  In 
the  decoration  of  the  dwelling  scnlp- 
tnred  ornamentation  was  not  frequently 
employed,  though  stucco  decorations 
are  common.  Gias8  mosaics,  or  as  we 
now  call  them  Venetian  mosaics  are 
sometimes  used  on  the  walls  and  col- 
umns. The  floors  are  generally  more  or 
less  freely  decorated  with  mosaics  in 
stone,  in  the  Roman  fashion.  Mosaic  and 
sculpture  of  course  occur  in  the  decora- 
tion of  the  fountain  and  of  the  altar  to 
the  household  gods  which  usually  stood 
in  the  atrium.  There  are  also  frequently 
marble  tables  with  beautifully  carved 
supports.  The  wally,  are,  however, 
generally  decorated  with  paintings. 
Some  of  these  are  very  simple  consisting 
of  slight  architectural  ornamentation 
dividing  the  walls  into  panels.  The  next 
step  was  to  place  a,  small  picture  in 
the  center  of  eacb  panel,  and  then,  to 
make  the  pictare  occupy  the  entire  panel. 
Sometimes  the  painting  formed  a  frieze 
or  border  running  ab<;ut  the  room.  Of- 
tentimes the  columns  and  pillars,  us 
well  as  the  walls  were  decorated  with 
paintingo.  These  paintings,  more  than 
anything  elifs  empress  the  visitor  to 
Pompeii.  They  are  often, finely  executed, 
and  in  admirable  preservation,  both  of 
which  faciri  .surprise  you  completely. 
Many  of  the  paintings  have  been  re- 
moved to  the  museum  at  Naples,  but  by 
far  the  largest  number  are  still  in  place. 
The  subjects  of  these  paintings  are  gen- 
erally taken  from  the  mythology  and 
legends  of  Greece  and  Home,  though 
there  are  numerous  landscapes,  fruit, 


flowers,  game,  animals,  and  some  very 
clever  representations  of  real  life.  Some 
of  these  illustrate,  in  a  most  disgusting 
fashion,  what  one  of  the  guides  called 
"the  ancient  Pompeian  love  of  Bacchus 
;aud  Venus  "  Yon  have,  nndoabtedly 
come,  expecting  to  find  the  houses  acd 
other  buildings  almost  intact,  and  are 
disappointed  to  find  how  great  the  rnin 
was,  and  how  little  is  left,  bat  as  yon 
come  to  stndy  the  place  more  thorough- 
ly yon  find  yourself  constantly  surprised 
at  the  excellent  preservation  of  things. 
It  seems  quite  certain  that  most  of  the 
houses  in  Pompeii  were  at  least  two 
stories  high,  but  the  ruins  seldom  indi- 
cate a  second  story,  and  in  only  a  single 
case  does  the  second  story  actually  exist. 
The  upper  floor  was  far  from  being  as 
extensive  as  the  lower  one  Sometimes 
a  considerable  part  of  even  the  first 
story  has  been  destroyed.  The  temples 
have  suffered  far  more  than  the  baths 
and  the  theatres,  which  are  in  a  fair 
state  of  preservation.  The  reason  for 
this  state  of  things  is  that  the  cinders 
and  lava  covered  the  city  to  the  height 
of  the  first  story,  and  the  parts  that' 
projected  above  were  soon  destroyed. 
This  included,  of  course,  the  second 
floor  of  the  houses,  and  the  upper  parts 
of  the  temples  and  other  buildings.  The 
baths  and  the  theatres  were  of  such  a 
height  as  to  escape  serious  injury.  The 
site  of  the  town  walls  can  readily  be 
traced,  though  they  had  begun  to  decay 
before  the  final  catastrophe.  As  the 
burial  of  the  dead  was  not  permitted 
within  the  city  there  grew  up  along  the 
roads  leading  from  each  of  the  city  gates, 
a  row  of  tombs  on  either  side. '  A  few 
of  these  have  been  excavated  outside  of 
two  of  the  gates.  Pompeii  lay  quite 
undisturbed  from  the  time  of  its  de- 
struction until  1748  when  the  discovery 
by  a  peasant  of  some  sculptures,  led  to 
the  excavation  of  the  amphitheatre  and 
its  vicinity.  The  excavation  of  the 
forum  and  the  adj-icent  buildings  was 
begun  by  Joachim  Mnrat  when  he  was 
King  of  Naples  between  1806  and  1808. 
The  present  systematic  excavation  of 
the  city  was  begun  in  1860,  when  Naples 
became  a  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy. 


Fiorelli,  to  whom  the  work  was  entrust- 
ed,carried  it  on  until  his  death  five  years 
ago.  The  work  still  goes  on,  about  one- 
third  of  the  city  having  been  bronghtto 
light.  The  undertaking  will  require 
another  fifty  years  and  one  million  dol- 
lars to  reach  completion.  About  eighty 
men  are  regnlarly  employed  on  the  work. 
All  the  movable  finds  are  transferred 
to  the  uinseum  at  Naples  for  preserva- 
tion. The  annnal  income  from  the  fees 
of  visitors  amounts  to  about  seven  thou- 
sand dollars.  There  is  a  regular  street 
and  honsecleaning  force  to  keep  the 
ruins  clean  and  in  order;  while  another 
corps  of  men  act  as  guards  and  guides, 
and  incidentally  relieve  the  traveller  of 
some  of  his  money  in  the  form  of  gratn- 
ties.  The  only  tenants  of  the  ancient 
city  are  the  lizards  who  certainly  far 
outnumber  the  ancient  population. 

A  few  of  the  private  houses  should  be 
mentioned  by  name.  One  of  the  largest 
is  the  House  *  of  Pansa,  which  is  gener- 
ally studied  'as  the  complete,  model, 
Pompeian  dwelling.  The  House  of 
Faun,  so  called  from  the  statuette  of  a 
faun  found  in  the  atrium,  is  tbe  most 
sumptuous  private  house  yet  excavated 
at  Pompeii,  and  reveals  in  the  wonder- 
ful mosaics,  with  which  it  was  decorated 
the  wealth  and  excellent  artistic  taste 
of  the  owner.  The  mosaic  of  the  Battle 
of  Alexander,  which  occupied  one  of  the 
rooms  in  the  House  of  the  Faun  is  proba- 
bly the  finest  known  mosaic  in  the  Ro- 
man style.  It  was  made  of-  about  a  million 
and  a  half  minute  stone  cubes,  and 
though  partially  destroyed,  is  now  the 
chief  treasure  of  the  famous  museum  of 
Naples  The  finest  and  best  preserved 
paintings  were  found  in  the  House  of 
the  Vettie,  which  contains  the  beauti- 
ful friezes  with  the  cupids  at  work  and 
play,  and  in  the  House  of  Chase,  which 
has  just  been  excavated.  The  readers 
of  Bulwer  Lytton's  "Last  Days  of  Pom- 
peii/' will  recall  with  interest  the  House 
of  the  Tragic  Poet,  whom  the  novelist 
has  christened  Glancus.  The  House  of 
the  Balcony  is  tbe  onh  one  which  re- 
tains its  second  story.  Of  the  shops,  the 
most  interesting,  from  their  contents 
which  still  exist,  are  the  bakeries  and 


the  fuller's  shops.  The  taverns  might 
also  be  noted.  The  usual  building  mate- 
rial was  brick,  though  stone,  marble 
and  stncco  were  used,  especially  in  the 
ornamentation. 

Just  a  word  in  regard  to  the  streets. 
The  main  thoroughfares  were  abont 
twenty-four  feet  wide,  and  the.  minor 
streets  abont  fourteen  feet.  They  were 
paved,  not  unlike  those  of  modern  Na- 
ples, with  slabs  of  stone  abont  six  inch- 
es in  thickness  with  a  surface  of  abont 
two  square  feet.  The  ruts  worn  in  the 
pavement  determine  the  ex>ict  width  of 
the  carts  and  carriages  in  use.  The 
sidewalks  are  extremely  narrow,  so  that 
frequently  it  is  impossible  for  two  per- 
sons to  pass  on  them.  Instead  of  crops  ? 
walks  certain  stones  in  the  pavement 
are  raised  about  &ix  inches  above  the 
others  to  serve  as  stepping  stones.  The 
fornm  and  some  of  the  busier  streets 
were  closed  to  carriages,  or  might  be 
when  desirable.  Frequently  at  the 
street  corners,  one  notices  the  public 
fountains.  * 

I  hope  now  that  I  have  given  you  a 
better  idea  of  Pompeii  than  I  myself 
possessed  before  I  had  seen  it.  I  might 
add  that  modern  Pompeii  consists  of  a 
small  railway  station,  two  hotels,  and 
about  a  dozen  scattered  buildings. 
About  a  mile  distant  is  the  town  of 
Valle  di  Pompei,  which  has  grown  upv 
during  the  last  half  century  It  is  known 
to  Catholics  the  world  over,  for  the  pil- 
grimage church  of  the  Madonna  of  the 
Rosary,  which  has  been  thirty  y^ears  in 
building,  and  is  still  uncompleted.  A 
hundred  thousand  pilgrims  visit  this 
church  annually  to  worship  at  the 
shrine  of  this  miraculous  Madonna. 
Within  the  past  few  days,  the  facade 
of  the  church  has  been  completed  and 
consecrated.  It  was  built  with  money 
contributed  during  the  last  five  years 
by  Catholics  of  every  land,  as  a  testi- 
monial of  their  desire  for  universal 
peace. 

Now  go  and  get  a  good  night's  sleep, 
for  you  must  be  astir  early  to-morrow, 
and  on  your  way  up  Vesuvius  at  seven 
o'clock. 

Yours  truly. 

M    DCTCHER. 


THE  CHURCH  HELPER. 



ITHACA,  N.  Y,  AUGUST,  1901. 

CHURGH-GOING  IN  EUROPE. 

BY   G.    M.    DUTCHER,    A.  B. 

Traveling  in  Europe  involves  numerous 
difficult  questions  which  the  tourist  must 
face  whether  he  will  or  not.     The  question 
of  Sabbath  observance  is  viewed  in  Europe , 
very  differently  from  the  way  Americans  are  > 
accustomed  to  look  at  it.  .  Furthermore  the 
.  exigencies    of    travel    will    interfere    with  • 
Sabbatarian  notions  in  spite  of  everything. 
A  traveler's  Sundays  in  Europe  can  not  al- 
ways be  days  of  worship,  and  sometimes 
not  even  days  of  rest. 

There  are  few  inducements  for  .an  Ameri- 
can protestant  to  attend  catholic  services  in 
a  strange  tongue,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  the  music,  which  in  some  cases  well  re-, 
pays  the  American  visitor.  Such  an  in- 
stance the  writer  found  in  attending  mid- 
night mass  on  Christmas  eve  in  the  church 
of  Saint  Sulpice  in  Paris.  Protestant  servi- 
ces in  a  foreign  tongue  are  scarcely  less  in- ; 
viting,  except  as  a  means  of  learning  the 
language  of  the  country  through  listening  to 
the  sermons. 

Fortunately,  however,  the  traveler  is  pret- 
ty sure  to  find  a  service  conducted  in  Eng- 
lish in  nearly  every  place  frequented  by 
tourists.  Generally  these  services  are  con- 
ducted under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts,  or  of  another  society  also  connected 


I  with  the  Church  of  England.  In-  a  few 
;  large  cities  like  Paris  and  Dresden  there  are 
churches  connected  with  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  of  America  ;  the  Episcopalian 
then  finds  himself  well  provided  for,  but  the 
Methodists  and  other  non-conformists  fare 
poorly.  In  a  few  places  there  are  Presbyte- 
rian services,  and  in  one  or  two  places  a 
Methodist  service. 

Our  church  has  missions  in  Germany,  • 
Italy,  and  various  other  European  countries, 
but  probably  Rome  is  the  only  city  where 
the  service  is  conducted  in  English.  These 
missions  are  frequently  in  the  poorer  quarter 
of  the  city  and  appeal  only  to  the  poorer 
classes.  The  chapels  are  small  and  not  al- 
ways immediately  on  the  street.  The  writer 
twice  attended  services  in  a  little  mission 
chapel  of  this  sort.  The  first  occasion  was 
in  Leipsic  in  October  last.  Accompanied 
by  another  young  American  Methodist  who 
had  already  learned  the  way,  or  I  fear  I 
should  not  have  found  the  place,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  pass  through  a  building, 
fronting  on  the  street  and  enter  another  one 
in  the  rear,  to  reach  the  single  room  which 
had  been  fitted  up  suitable  for  church  ser- 
vice. The  sermon  had  just  begun  and  it 
was  possible  to  follow  it  with  some  degree 
of  understanding.  It  was  brief,  forcible,  and 
spiritual.  After  a  hymn  the  meeting  was 
turned  into  an  evangelistic  service.  The 
attendance  perhaps  was  about  a  hundred, 
and  consisted  entirely  of  people  from  the 
working-classes,  but  people  full  of  earnest- 


ness,  and  who  obviously  knew  on  whom 
they  had  believed.  It  was  a  Methodist  ser- 
vice, beyond  a  doubt,  and  npne  were  allowed 
to  leave  without  more  than  one  hearty  hand- 
shake. A  month  later  in  Hanover  a  similar 
little  chapel  was  visited.  The  good  fatherly 
old  man  in  the  pulpit  left  no  doubt  of  the 
soundness  of.  his  Methodism,  though  his 
little  flock  did  not  seem  to  have  quite  at- 
tained the  heights  reached  by  their  brethren 
in  Leipsic. 

The  two  services  described  were  conducted 
in  German  for  Germans.  In  Rome,  and 
there  alone,  did  the  writer  find  a  service 
conducted  for  the  benefit  of  the  English- 
speaking  Methodists  as  well  as  for  the  na- 
tives. Our  church's  missions  in  Italy,  the 
splendid  mission  building  in  Rome,  and  the 
faithful  labors  of  Dr.  Burt  as  superintendent 
are  well  known  to  every  Methodist. 

April  21st  was  Conference  Sunday  in 
Rome.  The  conference  of  the  Italian  mis- 
sion was  in  session  in  the  Mission  building 
with  Bishop  Vincent  presiding.  At  half-past 
ten  the  Bishop  preached  in  English  while  Dr. 
Burt  interpreted  for  the  benefit  of  the  Italian 
portion  of  the  audience.  At  four  the  Bishop 
preached  again.  This  time  the  services  was 
tor  the  English  speaking  Methodists  and  was 
held  in  Dr.  Burt's  beautiful  double  parlors 
on  an  upper  floor  of  the  Mission  building. 
The  meeting  was  the  most  homelike  of  any 
attended  in  Europe.  The  Bishop's  theme 
was  the  Philosophy  of  Marie  Corelli,  calling 
the  attention  to  certain  things  which  the 


popular  English  "authoress  has  emphasized, 
and  pointing  out  that  some  of  these  deserved 
the  earnest  thought  of  all  Christians.  At. 
the  close  of  these  services  came  a  delightful ' 
social  half-hour,  during  which  strangers 
could  get  acquainted  and  friends  could  meet. 
As  an  aid  to  sociability  Mrs.  Burt  served 
afternoon  teas. 

1  he  following  Sunday  the  pulpit  of  the 
American  Church  was  occupied  by  Bishop 
McCabe.  The  bishop  has  ever  taken  the 
deepest  interest  in  the  mission  in  Rome,  and 
has  done  much  to  make  possible  the  present 
building  and  the  work  carried  on  in  it ;  so 
it  was  not  surprising  that  he  should  turn 
aside  from  his  journey,  in  order  to  visit*  once 
more  the  field  of  work  in  which  he  was  so 
interested.  The  afternoon  service  in  Mrs. 
Burt's  parlor  was  somewhat  less  formal  than 
the  week  before.  Bishop  McCabe  was  pres- 
ent and  spoke  earnestly  and  simply  of  the 
blessings  of  Christianity  and  of  Methodism. 
He  spoke  of  the  feelings  of  pain  and  of  pity 
which  come  to  us  as  we  see  certain  things 
that  exist  in  Catholicism,  especially  at  Rome. 
These  services  ended  in  the  same  delightful 

f  fashion  as  the  week  before. 

Many  good  Methodists  doubt  the  advisa- 

•  bility  of  missions  in  Europe,  in  professedly 
Christian  lands,  but  a  visit  to  these  lands 
and  missions  removes  all  doubt  as  to  their 
value  and  usefulness.  The  converts,  as  in- 
timated, are  largely  from  the  poorer  classes, 
but  the  difference  between  them  and  their 

i- Catholic  or  Lutheran  equals  is  noteworthy, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  about  which  one  is 


getting  the  most  out  of  the  Christian  life. 
The  missions  in  Italy  are  of  the  highest  im- 
portance, for  there  above  all  they  give  the 
real  meat,  where  before  the  people  were 
getting  little  more  than  the  shucks.  The 
notion  of  Methodist  services  for  English- 
speaking  tourists,  such  as  exist  in  Rome,  is 
one  ihat  should  be  adopted  in  other  large 
European  cities. 


YC 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIB 


^f 


